High Performance Program

Our High Performance (HP) program is the most intensive and sophisticated level of training that we offer at Eurostep. This program works in tandem with the TDSB in order to provide athletes with the ability to do basketball training with Eurostep during school hours while following a specialized provincial school curriculum in order to ensure that they get a complete education. The HP program is offered to both middle school as well as high school athletes.

Although the HP program is a TDSB initiative, the training portion of the program is privately run by Eurostep and therefore there is a cost associated. The fee is $480/month between the months of September to June (10 months). Eurostep offers limited financial assistance to those athletes who qualify. If you are interested in the program and wish to know more about financial assistance, please contact us.

Our partner schools are:

Hollycrest Middle School - 630 Renforth Dr, Etobicoke, ON M9C 2N6

Silverthorn CI - 291 Mill Rd, Etobicoke, ON M9C 1Y5

Students who wish to apply for the HP program first need to apply with Eurostep. Once Eurostep has approved the application, the student then has to apply with the TDSB to be enrolled into one of the two schools listed above (depending on their grade). Students have to attend either Hollycrest or Silverthorn in order to received the specialized educational plan that is set out for HP athletes.

The HP training is done from 8:30AM - 11:30AM every Monday to Friday at 55 Horner Ave. This is our brand new training facility that was opened in November of 2022.

HP TRAINING ELEMENTS

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

The skill development portion of the day is constructed to work on all of the technical facets of the game, no matter what position they play or how old they are. Our goal is to build complete players that are able to be productive in all positions on the court. Skills such as shooting, passing, dribbling, and footwork are the main focus here. Our goal is to make sure that each athlete in the HP program has the same technical tools. The only difference will be how they use those tools based on their physiological and psychological traits (height, speed, aggressiveness, etc).

FITNESS

Our fitness component focuses on ballistic and plyometric training that is sport specific to basketball. Explosiveness, agility, and acceleration are the cornerstones of our fitness program. We have identified these traits as being the most important for basketball players during a game. The fitness sessions are short, but each daily session works on one specific part of the overall fitness component. For example, on Monday the athletes are working on their jumping ability and on Tuesday it is foot speed. That way athletes are not overloaded or in danger of burning out.

INDIVIDUAL WORK

This time is spent on a very specific part of each athlete’s game. Since each athlete has different needs, we use this training time to target a particular skill that needs improvement. This can either be a previously learnt skill that needs amending and/or strengthening, or if the athlete continuously gets touches in a game in a specific spot we can work on honing in on their deeper development to increase their efficiency and effectiveness within their team and the game as a whole.

GAME SITUATION TRAINING

This part of the program allows the athletes to use the skills they have been working on during the day and apply them to a competitive but controlled situation. Learning a skill and applying it to a game situation are two different things. That is why we give athletes the opportunity to get comfortable with a skill in a game setting. That way when they are competing, they are already proficient with their newly learnt abilities.

SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO TRAINING

In order to ensure that we are meeting our own standards of growth and development of our players, Eurostep utilizes a custom made app to track both the shooting statistics of our athletes as well as their physical development. This allows the coaches, players, and parents to see the progress that the athlete is making during the HP training. Shooting stats are taken on a weekly basis while fitness testing is done a few times per year.

We currently test five different shooting variables as well as five physical tests in order to ensure that our reports are as comprehensive as possible. Below is example of some of the graphs and charts that are included in our reports to the players and parents. Each graph contains the individual results of each testing day as well as a trend line that shows the overall long term progress for each skill.

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The graphs and charts in the report allow the athlete to visually see their progress over a period of time and gives the coaching staff an opportunity to work with the players to set both short and long term goals for their development.

TRAINING CYCLES

Our training patterns are based on the competitive demands that the players face over the course of the year. The goal is to load manage the players to ensure that they are not burning out and are staying in peak condition. The goal is to optimize player performance at all times.

ACADEMICS

The High Performance program is a TDSB school initiative that is designed to support high level amateur athletes with an accommodated school day to help facilitate their training needs in order to promote balance in their academic and athletic commitments. Students will attend school for half a day, then attend their training session for the other half of the day. Students will be placed into a grade appropriate class either in the morning or the afternoon depending on their training schedule, information about students’ training is required as a part of the application process.

HOLLYCREST

Hollycrest has grades 4 to 8 at their school and currently has around 270 HP athletes attending various training programs for sports such as hockey, gymnastics, and of course, basketball. In order to ensure that students are completing their necessary education, the curriculum for HP athletes is different than regular students. The athletes have an accommodated school day in order to facilitate the 3 hours of training.

SILVERTHORN CI

This high school has grades 9 to 12 and is the school where athletes from Hollycrest can continue their HP training. Just like Hollycrest the school day is designed to accommodate 3 hours of sport training while still making sure that they athletes get all of their necessary credits for completing high school. The difference between Hollycrest and Silverthorn is that in high school the athletes earn credits for each completed course. Each athlete needs 30 credits in order to graduate. The recommended credit schedule is as follows:

Grade 9 - eight credits (One credit can be a gym credit for the Eurostep workouts)
Grade 10 - eight credits (One credit can be a gym credit for the Eurostep workouts)
Grade 11 - seven credits (One credit can be a gym credit for the Eurostep workouts)
Grade 12 - seven credits

Athletes will train with Eurostep in the mornings and then go to school in the afternoon. Eurostep is able to provide a gym credit for each year of high school (please note that gym does not count towards the 6 university credits needed to be eligible to go to university). Silverthorn CI is a semestered school, so the athletes will be taking 4 courses from September to December and then another 4 courses from January to June.