Sam Poolman's new role helps Newcastle Grammar School students balance athletic pursuit with academic studies

The 31-year-old travelled countless hours up and down the freeway between Newcastle and Sydney to pursue her dream of becoming a national league netballer.

After calling time on a decade-long career at the top level, Poolman has now turned her focus to helping the next generation of athletes balance their sporting endeavours with academic studies.

The former Giants goalkeeper and Australian Fast5 captain is head of athlete development at Newcastle Grammar School.

Poolman is implementing the school's Supporting Athlete Performance (SAP) program and has additionally designed a specialised tracking system with a focus on well-being and future success.

"The program was started in 2020 by the director of co-curriculum who felt a student shouldn't be impacted academically because they were good athletically," Poolman said.

"I'm happy to admit my academic studies probably were impacted because of what I was doing through netball ... whereas these athletes at the school have a program that supports them and allows them to have their academic and their sporting goals on the same tier rather than having to sacrifice something because you're spending so many hours of training outside school.

"After meeting all of the athletes and understanding what was in place and what was required, I tapped into my high-performance background and I've evolved the program this year and we've created an Athlete 360 tracking system.

"It focuses on the holistic athlete and how we can track them and support their needs and flag them but also upskill them for the future."

Student athletes benefit from adjusted timetables, physiotherapy consults, nutrition education and mentorship.

Swans Academy athlete Asha Turner Funk, 18, has just completed year 12 and hopes to pursue an AFLW career.

"The program has been amazing, just being able to balance the athletic and academic stuff has been the biggest thing," Turner Funk said.

"I've learned lots of time-management skills and they've provided heaps of resources like physios and nutritionists to help us as much as we can and streamline the whole thing.

"It's helped a lot to feel like I don't have to outsource a whole lot to get what I need as an athlete and a student."

Other students who have reaped the benefits of the program include 18-year-old Caleb Garven, who will play college baseball in the United States next year, national level swimmer Gabriel Jeffery, 17, and champion powerlifter Luke Talley, 16.

"I was away overseas for about two months this year with baseball playing in America," Garven said.

"The program helped me get in contact with teachers, make sure I was up to date with my school work before I left, allowed me to get ahead and really helped me out when I came back."

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