Background To understand the multiple and wide-ranging impacts of intensified youth sport, the need for a holistic approach to athlete development has recently been advocated. Sports schools are an increasingly popular operationalisation of intensified youth sport, aiming to offer an optimal environment for holistic development by combining sport and education. Yet, no study has systematically explored the impacts associated with sports schools. Objectives The aims of this mixed method systematic review were to (1) determine the characteristics and features of sports schools; (2) identify the methods used to evaluate sports school impacts, and (3) evaluate the positive and negative holistic athlete development impacts associated with sports school programme involvement. Methods Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, eight electronic databases were searched until the final return in February 2021. Forty-six articles satisfied the inclusion criteria, were analysed thematically, and synthesised using a narrative approach. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results Findings indicated (1) sports school student-athletes receive considerable support in terms of academic and athletic services, more intensified training and competition schedules with high-level training partners, but regularly miss school; (2) multiple methods have been used to evaluate student-athlete impacts, making comparison across studies and developing consensus on the impacts of sports schools difficult; and (3) there are a multitude of immediate, short- and long-term positive and negative impacts associated with the academic/vocational, athletic/physical, psychosocial and psychological development of sports school student-athletes. Conclusions This study is the first to systematically review the research literature to understand the impacts associated with sports schools in terms of holistic athlete development. Practitioners should be aware that they can promote (positive) and negate (negative) health impacts through the design of an appropriate learning environment that simultaneously balances multiple training, academic, psychosocial and psychological factors that can be challenging for youth athletes. We recommend that practitioners aim to design and implement monitoring and evaluation tools that assess the holistic development of student-athletes within their sports schools to ensure they are promoting all-round and healthy youth athlete development.

In order to understand the features of sport schools and their impacts on the holistic development of student-athletes, it is important to take into account the voice of multiple stakeholders central to the programmes (student-athletes, coaches, teachers). Through a case-study approach, using five focus groups, with 19 student-athletes, and six semi-structured interviews with three coaches and three dual coach and teachers, this study explored the perceived impacts of one sport-friendly school (pseudonym–“Salkeld High”) on holistic athlete development and the features that drove these impacts. Using a critical realist approach to thematic analysis, findings indicated a multitude of immediate, intermediate and long-term positive and negative impacts associated with academic/vocational (e.g., academic security vs. second/third choice university), athletic/physical (e.g., performance development vs. injuries), psychosocial (e.g., social skills vs. social scarifies) and psychological (e.g., sport confidence vs. performance pressure) development of “Salkeld High” student-athletes. Overall, “Salkeld High” was viewed as an integrated school environment for sport, academics, and boarding, where academic (e.g., extra-tutoring), athletic (e.g., high volume/frequency of training), and psychosocial/psychological (e.g., pastoral services) features are all in one location. The student-athletes tended to get a well-rounded, balanced holistic experience. However, the intensified and challenging nature of involvement did present some negative impacts that stakeholders should be aware of when designing, implementing, and evaluating sport-friendly school programmes. Furthermore, although “Salkeld High” was seen as an integrated environment within the school, it could do better at collaborating with wider sporting structures.