A ground-breaking new education programme giving talented swimmers the chance to combine their studies and their love of the sport has been launched at Warwick Academy.

A dozen boys and girls between 13 and 18 have signed up for the High Performance Swim Programme that provides exposure to elite-level coaching and competition while they continue their academic studies in Bermuda.

The students’ daily schedules are designed to incorporate their normal lessons as well as morning and afternoon swimming sessions and strength and conditioning classes.

The programme is co-ordinated by national swim coach Ben Smith and former elite Bermudian swimmer Nick Patterson.

“A lot of keen and strong swimmers would start to look at schools overseas at around this time,” Mr Smith said. “So we started to discuss how we could create a swimming concept that would make it attractive for them to stay in Bermuda.

“The ability to have these children stay at home and for them to continue to be around their parents is a huge part of their development, while the programme also gives them exposure to major competitions in the United States.

“The high-intensity training takes place in the pool and goes alongside the classroom work, while the strength and conditioning is in-house too.

“A huge advantage of this initiative is the students get to go home at 4.30pm; then they can study, go home, go to social events or volunteer. It opens up loads of opportunities that they would not have had if they had to go training after school.”

“So far, everything has gone very well; everyone has come with the mindset that they want to be here and we have seen that in every practice.”

Mr Patterson added: “This is a fantastic opportunity for these children; it’s pretty high performance to have eight practices in the same week as well as having on-site training at the school.”

The students’ weekdays begin at 5.45am with a one-hour 45-minute swim session before they have breakfast together at school.

A further afternoon swim session as well as strength and conditioning class are built into each student’s normal academic timetable before they go home at 4.30pm.

The programme has been running for just over a week and is already proving popular with the students, and also two student triathletes who have taken advantage of parts of the syllabus. Jesse Washington, 18, told The Royal Gazette: “I’ve been swimming for 11 years now, so it made sense for me to take advantage of this opportunity.

“I was looking at going abroad a couple of years back, but this programme allows you to get the best of both worlds. It’s a programme similar to one you might get in a boarding school, but you get to stay at home.

“We get exposure to international competitions and great coaching, and can still pursue our studies while staying in Bermuda.”

Gaby Pitman, 14, added: “It’s a great opportunity to get more involved in swimming and compete in more overseas competition, while staying in Bermuda.

“Another big advantage of the programme is we get home at the normal time of around 4.30pm. Before we would train after school and not get home until 8pm on some nights.

“It’s been hard getting used to the early mornings, but there is a real camaraderie in the group and it’s great fun.”

As part of the process of providing the new swimming programme, Warwick Academy had to receive accreditation from the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming Association in the United States.

This accreditation means that students will be able to compete in several more international competitions in the US throughout the year.

Principal Dave Horan said: “The aim of the new swim programme is to provide pupils with another world-class pathway to pursue their academic and sporting ambitions while remaining in Bermuda.

“It’s about offering different options to students and providing them with the structure and expertise to get where they want to be.

“It’s going well; there will be things we need to work through as with all new programmes, but we will keep talking to the parents and keep talking to the students to make sure everyone is getting the most out of it.”