Thirty-nine different sports! A unique stat that tells the story of the National Sport School

This is a new record for the National Sport School — the 2026-27 student population represents 39 different sports.

Thirty-nine!

“What’s cool about having so many different sports is that everybody brings their own little piece, and that just adds to the community,” said National Sport School principal Rob Jewan.  

This community, with 610 students in Grades 8-12, now includes athletes from just about every sport you could think of, and probably a few more on top of that.  

There are hockey prospects, basketball players, lacrosse competitors and soccer standouts.  

There are golfers and gymnasts, skiers and snowboarders, speed skaters and figure skaters, and divers and swimmers.  

There are cheerleaders, climbers and curlers. There are martial artists and equestrians. There are BMXers, biathletes and a barrel racer.  

We could keep going.  

The National Sport School, which is based on the WinSport campus, will be hosting an open house from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 26. This is an opportunity for prospective students and their parents to explore the unique advantages of NSS and to learn more about enrolment requirements and the application process for 2027-28.  

Registration for the open house will be available starting on Oct. 15. Book your spot here. 

“It doesn’t matter what sport it is now, they’re requiring more and more from kids during the day,” said Jewan, now in his eighth year as principal at NSS. “And that’s where we come in. We can provide that flexibility. In a regular school, quite often they’re the only one who is coming and going. Here, everyone is coming and going.  

“And then for us, that diversity of sport is super cool because nobody knows how hard a BMX rider works, or how hard a water skier works. They might think, let’s say they’re a hockey player, that they train more than anyone else. And then they realize these other athletes are training just as hard and travelling all over the world to compete in their sports.

 “That diversity really opens the eyes of the students. They might say, ‘Wow, I’m busy, but not like that.’ ”  

A busy schedule is something that all these students, regardless of their sporting specialty, have in common.  

They all benefit from the small class sizes and flexible classroom environment. They also benefit from access to a mental performance consultant and to the top-of-the-line fitness equipment in WinSport’s Performance Training Centre.

The National Sport School has an impressive alumni list. Past graduates have achieved many of the dreams that the current students are chasing — from Olympic and Paralympic podium appearances to post-secondary scholarships and professional contracts.  

“I think it’s important for us to understand the pressures that they face at different times,” Jewan said. “Our teachers know that if they are going to a training camp or something like that, yeah, we can maybe hit them up for some homework. But if they’re going to the world championship, we’re just going to leave them alone. Because there are varying levels of reasons to be away. We understand that when there is something big on the line, that’s why they chose to come to the NSS and we are going to leave them alone and trust that they’ll come back and get things done.”  

Often, when students return from competition, they have a medal or trophy with them.  

This year, it could be in any one of 39 different sports.