A school where athletes master academics in 2 hours, elevate performance with AI, and thrive beyond the classroom.
At Vail Performance Academy, we believe today’s bright, capable student-athletes deserve more than a one-size-fits-all education.
Our mission is to empower student-athletes to achieve peak academic and athletic performance through AI-driven mastery and human performance science.
Redefining Human Performance in Education.
Our Approach
At Vail Performance Academy, we unite elite academics, athletics, and human performance through a proprietary, AI-powered model designed for excellence.
Students complete core academics in just two focused hours per day using 2-Hour Learning, a mastery-based platform that adapts to each learner’s pace. This approach frees time for training, exploration, and growth beyond the classroom.
Our Director of Human Performance leverages advanced data analytics and AI-powered insights to inform both athletic and academic decision-making. A custom performance dashboard integrates wearable technology, recovery metrics, and training data to help optimize each student’s performance and well-being.
Afternoons are dedicated to studio courses, research, and service learning, including global projects through the Vail Humanity Initiative. Students graduate ready to lead with strength, intellect, and purpose.
Solving Global Challenges
At Vail Performance Academy, our mission is to equip students to lead with purpose by engaging in real-world experiences that build empathy, compassion, and critical thinking. Through immersive, hands-on learning, students don’t just study the world, they step into it. This year, 12 of our students worked directly with Haitian immigrants in the Bahamas, applying their learning to support communities in need while gaining a deeper understanding of global responsibility.
A Community of Experts
At Vail Performance Academy, students don’t just learn from teachers, they learn alongside experts. Every three weeks, our students engage in immersive, project-based courses designed and co-taught by passionate educators and world-class mentors from across industries. From CEOs and Olympians to scientists, artists, and nonprofit leaders, these mentors bring global perspective, cutting-edge insight, and real-world relevance into the classroom.
“the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and as a people.”
A Nation at Risk (1983)
Why a Non-traditional School?
The current American public education model was highly-effective at supporting society through the industrial age but is now tired and sclerotic. For example, the current hiring conditions among public schools have led to large deficits in the number and quality of available educator candidates, and students reporting low engagement, low relevancy and low hope, and colleges are reporting that kids are less and less prepared for academia
“Sam is the best teacher I’ve ever had. He talks up to people rather than down. He encourages doing the right thing simply for the sake of doing so. He is hilarious, overwhelmingly positive, and humbly tenacious.”
— Owen Grimmer
