In Years 9 and 10, students participate in their chosen Academy, representing one of the following leading team sports at this school: basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rugby and volleyball.

For students outside of these sports a generic SPA ‘Blue’ programme is offered with a focus on targeted strength and conditioning for young athletes. The Academies take approximately 150 Year 9 and Year 10 students each year across these sporting codes.

The Sports Performance Academy offers athletes the unique opportunity to develop skill sets pertinent to their sport from highly qualified professional coaches. Wider life skills are also an important part of this programme in which social skills are developed alongside important attributes such as time management, commitment and sport-study balance.

The SPA programme is often the first step in the high-performance sport journey at Rangitoto College.