Since sport captivates many young people in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is not surprising that it is being situated in a new form of educational setting. This is evidenced through the emergence of secondary school sport academies over the last four years. The first academy was established in 1997 at Aranui High School in Christchurch and now there are over 70. This paper examines the changing role of sport in secondary education, discusses the emergence of sport academies and comments on the development of three of these. The academies provide the context - where sport takes place - which is crucial to the education and sport nexus (Gerdy, 2000). Clearly, if sport can achieve educational purposes through sport academies, then we must explore their operation as an educational tool.