Sports High School
Sports High School Entrance and LGS in the Same Year
Carrying two exams through Year 8 is possible, but done without a plan both suffer. The weekly structure, how to distribute load, and the decision calendar.
4 min read
Exam Preparation
SPORTS HIGH SCHOOL PREPARATION
The right decision at fourteen becomes a career at twenty.
Free Athlete AssessmentAbout the Programme
The Sports High School Preparation Programme is Başarı Spor Akademisi’s programme for Year 8 students sitting the entrance examination for Turkey’s sports high schools. It runs at the academy’s training camp and develops the coordination, speed and general movement skill the exam measures, at a loading appropriate to the student’s age.
A sports high school exam is not a shrunken adult exam. The student in front of us is still growing: bone development is incomplete and coordination is not yet settled. So the programme’s first question is not “how much can we load” but “what can we safely develop at this age”. A badly planned preparation can win the exam and still cost the next four years to injury.
General movement skill sits at the centre: running technique, jump mechanics, balance, rhythm and ball handling. These serve the exam, but they also lay the ground for whatever discipline the student later chooses. Whether one goes to volleyball and another to athletics, both need the same thing first — to have learned how to use their body properly.
The process runs with the family. Because the exam calendar overlaps the national LGS period, the weekly plan is set around school load; training does not replace study. Development measurements are shared with parents throughout, so the decision rests on data rather than a guess.
Training Content
An age-appropriate, all-round development programme. Bodyweight work and technical foundations take priority over loaded strength work.
- Running technique and speed: starts, stride frequency, arm–leg coordination
- Agility: change of direction, slalom and reaction drills
- Jump mechanics: correct landing technique and controlled plyometrics
- Balance and coordination: single-leg stabilisation, rhythm and timing drills
- General ball handling: game-based work developing hand and foot skill
- Age-appropriate strength: bodyweight trunk and lower-limb strength
- Exam simulation: full repeats of the skill tests, against the clock
Who Can Join?
- Year 8 students sitting the sports high school entrance exam
- Students not yet committed to a discipline who want all-round development
- Club athletes who want to prepare for the exam format specifically
- Typically ages 13–15
- Parental consent and no health condition preventing sport
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the sports high school exam measure?
Most exams combine a skill-coordination course with a speed measurement; some schools add an endurance run or a discipline test. The middle-school achievement score also feeds into placement. Because the format varies between schools, we go through your target school’s guide with you.
Is my child too young to be training?
Planned training is not too early at this age; unplanned training is risky at any age. Thirteen to fifteen is when coordination and movement quality develop fastest. In this window we train technique and skill rather than heavy loads — which is exactly what this programme does.
They are also preparing for LGS. Can both work together?
They can, provided the programme is built for it. We train three days a week at times that follow the school day, and we deliberately reduce load during exam periods. Our experience is that students in regular physical activity usually concentrate better on schoolwork, not worse.
We have not decided on a discipline yet. Is that a problem?
No — you are not expected to have chosen one at this stage. The programme is built on all-round development. Through the term we observe which qualities the student shows most strongly and share those observations with the family before the school choice. The decision is the family’s; our job is to inform it.
What if they do not pass?
An exam not won is not a year wasted. The student finishes the programme running better, jumping better and understanding their own body better, and that stays with them at whichever school they attend. Students who want to continue can move into one of our sports schools.
How is safety handled in sessions?
Groups are kept small, coach supervision is continuous, and load is set against how the student is on the day. Warm-up and cool-down are not negotiable parts of a session. A student reporting pain does not push through it — at this age the cost of a “grit your teeth” culture is far too high.
From the Programme
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FIRST STEP: A FREE ATHLETE ASSESSMENT
We do not write a programme without measuring first. After the assessment you will see, in numbers, how far from your target you actually are.