Located in San Clemente, the Togethership, is an independent private school designed for elite middle school student athletes.
With sports being a popular activity for children, new schools are opening with sports as a large part of their curriculum.
According to the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), 53.8% of children ages 6 to 17 years old play on a sports team or participate in a type of physical activity as of 2022.
“Togethership was formed to provide these hyper-focused, elite student-athletes every opportunity and advantage possible to achieve their goals on and off the court and field,” according to the school’s website.
Students attending Togethership are opting out of starting their freshman year of high school after completing 8th grade, entering the sports focused program instead. Then, re-entering traditional public or private high schools a year older.
It currently focuses on; baseball, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, and volleyball.
“Being around other people that also love sports is very different from regular school. Once you leave the school they teach you ways to take care of yourself outside of the sport alone,” said football player Luke Frith.
A primary goal of the school is to develop athletes and prepare them for high school.
“An ability to get faster and stronger before going into high school, being a freshman coming in you already have advantages people don’t,” said Frith.
Designed to include three to four hours of sports training everyday outside of academic work, the academy must balance sports and academics.
“The Togethership facility is incredible. The weight room was super organized and they used technology to personalize each athlete’s workout,” said soccer player Sariah Porter.
Though the school has a primary facility, they transport players to and from different practice locations depending on their sport.
“There are buses to take students out to local fields for speed and agility and whatever sports classes they are taking,” said Porter.
Applicants must complete a multi-step process and a phone interview before getting a quote on the cost of tuition.
Typically it enrolls around 200 athletes per year. Class sizes are small and teachers and students have the opportunity to build a better relationship with one another.
“They did a great job balancing sports and academics. They are some of the best teachers I ever had and they taught me the right things about real life fundamentals, not just what they were supposed to teach,” said Frith.
Devin Quinn, the creator of the academy, trained star National Football League (NFL) players such as Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, and Christian Kirk under the mentorship of Jordan Palmer.
Built as a holistic academy, Togethership hopes to improve: academics, nutrition, mindfulness, recovery, sport, and performance.
“They helped me strengthen my mentality, it forces you to do the things you normally wouldn’t do,” said football player Ryan Matheson.
Drawbacks to the program might include not graduating with the same class of students they used to go to school with, distance from peer group activities that occur at high school like dances and clubs as well extracurriculars like drama, music, and art programs.
But for some, the cost of tuition and sacrificing these things for a time might be worth it.
