Being a high-performance athlete require intense training, focus, and dedication. When you’re still in high school, you also have the added stress of classes, studying, and passing your exams. Doing both can be overwhelming, and often students find themselves either struggling in school or having a hard time maintaining their training for their sport.
With OVS, students don’t have to give anything up and can succeed in both their academics and their athletics. Students can customize their education to fit their needs, giving them more freedom to pursue their goals.
Olympian Summer McIntosh
Summer has been an OVS student since 2020, completing her high school studies alongside her rigorous training schedule.
Summer competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at just 14 years old. She competed again in the 2024 Paris Olympics where she earned 3 gold medals.
To read more about Summer and her amazing achievements, please check out her student spotlight.
Start Anytime and Work at Your Own Pace
It is essential for high performance athletes to make their training schedule a priority, having to organize the rest of their life to fit their training. This can make organizing school difficult, as most training schedules don’t align well with a regular day school schedule.
There are also periods of time where athletes have to be away from their studies for a longer period of time, especially if they are training for a specific event or competition. For athletes still in high school, this can mean leaving class and struggling to come back after spending several days or even weeks away from the classroom.
At OVS, athletes don’t have to miss anything. You can sign up and start a course at any time, completing it in as little as one month or taking as long as one calendar year. You can sign up and power through a course, completing it before or after you need to take time off for training. Alternatively, you can start working on a course, take time off to train, then come back to the course and start right where you left off, without having missed a single lesson.
Pairs Figure Skater Brooke McIntosh
Brooke McIntosh, Summer’s older sister, is also an incredible athlete, competing in pairs figuring skating.
While competing, Brooke attended OVS and graduated from Ontario Virtual School in 2023.
Brooke took some time to share her thoughts on OVS.
Work From Anywhere in the World
Another challenge most high-performance student athletes might face is that their athletics require them to travel. Some students might live in one place, but their training centre is in a different city or even another country, which often means they can’t enroll in their local school because they are away for most of the year. This means that some student athletes might have to enroll in an international school, which has a different curriculum and courses than what they are used to, making it hard to keep up with their education.
They also are required to travel in order to participate in competitions, which can mean, even if they are enrolled in an international school, they will spend a great deal of time away, missing classes and struggling to keep up with assignments on the road.
With OVS, you can study from anywhere in the world at any time. As long as you can connect to the internet, you can access your lessons, tests, and assignments from wherever you are. You’ll be able to stay with the same school, following the same curriculum, regardless of where you currently live. You’ll also be able to take your education on the road with you, watching lessons and emailing your teacher for help and support while you’re one a long plane or bus ride. You can take tests while resting in a hotel room for the night, and you can even organize to write your exam while you’re travelling.
With OVS, you never have to worry about falling behind or sacrificing your education because you aren’t consistently in one place. You can take your education with you wherever you go.
Tennis Player Adrian Catahan
Adrian earned his OSSD from OVS in 2021. He decided to join OVS because he wanted to focus on his training for tennis, which involved a lot of travel and many hours of training and competition. Here is what he had to say about OVS.
Balancing Your Course Load
Unlike with day school, at OVS, you are not required to be enrolled in a set number of courses each semester. In traditional day school, students have to be taking 3-4 courses at a time to maintain their full-time status. For a student athlete, that can be overwhelming, trying to balance that many subjects with their athletic commitments.
With OVS, students can enroll in 1 or 2 courses at a time. Students are not required to maintain a certain course load throughout the semester in order to maintain their status with us. This means that student athletes can sign up for courses in ways that work best for them.
During peak training times, maybe you only have time for one course, or none at all, but then during the off season when you aren’t nearly as busy you can sign up for 3-4 courses and get them done quickly. Whatever your training scheduled looks like, OVS allows you the flexibility needed to make a schedule that’s right for you.
Hockey Player Hendrix LaPierre
Former OVS student Hendrix LaPierre was able to balance his high school education with his hockey training simultaneous.
Being able to attend high school can participate in hockey at the competitive level, Hendrix was able to not only earn his high school diploma but also be drafted to the NHL within the same year.
Support From Ontario Certified Teachers
One thing that makes OVS stand out from other online or homeschooling methods, is that each course has an Ontario Certified Teacher available for student support and questions.
Students will be assigned a specific teacher throughout the duration of their course. This teacher will mark all tests and assignments, but also be available through email for students to reach out if they need help. OVS policy is that teachers should respond to student inquires within 1 business day, and be marking tests and assignments within 2 business days.
Most other online or homeschooling methods to not offer this level of support, meaning students are sometimes waiting several days to have their questions answered, or they don’t have any support and must complete their courses without assistance, which can make completing school work stressful.
At OVS, we do our best to make sure each of our students has the support they need to help ensure they complete their courses and receive a high-quality education, earning their Ontario High School Diploma while also pursuing their athletic or other extra-curricular ambitions.
OVS Student Athlete Testimonials
Throughout this article we’ve discussed all the ways that OVS can help support student athletes. Only, you don’t just have to take our word for it, you can hear it from the athletes we’ve helped. We have several testimonials from both our current and graduated students, on how OVS has helped them to succeed.
Soccer Player Sarah Sparrow
Sarah Sparrow is a competitive soccer player who graduated from OVS in 2022.
While OVS helped her with her studies during her training, it also gave her the time she needed to recover from an injury by allowing her to take a necessary break from school in order to focus on recovery.
To read more about her OVS journey, check out her student spotlight.
Golf Player Kartik Singh
Kartik Singh is an up-and-coming young athlete in the world of competitive golf.
At just thirteen, he won the 2023 FCG Callaway World Championships.
In order to get an education while building his athletic career, Kartik decided to pursue his education with OVS.
He completed Grade 8 and is a current Grade 9 student in our program.
Dancer Anna Turkington
Anna Turkington is a Canadian born professional ballet dancer living in the USA.
She has trained professionally at the Rock School for Dance Education and competed in numerous competitions around the globe.
Anne was able to complete her diploma online with OVS, graduating in June 2024.
We sat down with Anna for an interview regarding her time with OVS.
OVS has an excellent track record of helping student athletes get a high-quality education, while allowing them the freedom and time needed to excel in their athletics as well. With international and athletic program partnerships, we are giving students even more ways to access education and pursue their dreams. For more information on our student athletes, as well as other OVS student success stories, check out our spotlight page.