Tom’s imagination was at its best, and he slowly realized that he could go even further.
Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
————————————-
Among the five hundred permanent employees of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, in Manacor, there are five psychologists.
I raise my eyebrow when Antonio Arenas, head of communications, offers me the information:
–Five psychologists? And so?
–There is something we must work on with all the residents and with many of their families: everyone must be very clear about who is who. ‘You are not going to be the new Rafa Nadal. I don’t know if it will be possible,’ psychologists tell the kids.
They also tell parents the same thing.
While we talk, I take a look at the facilities.
The Rafa Nadal Academy occupies 400 hectares. Translated colloquially, it is equivalent to 400 football fields. I look at the scene from a bird’s eye view, but not even like that: I can’t take in all of it.
I see a zillion tennis courts (there are 45 in total) and paddle tennis, even an artificial grass soccer field, and there are also restaurants, terraces, the building that houses the school and the adult residence.
–What I don’t see – I tell my host – are references to Nadal. I only make out that pink sculpture that presides over the center court.
(The sculptor Brendan Murphy gave it to the academy last year; some visitors photograph themselves in front of it; it is inevitable: I associate Murphy’s sculpture with the creation that Jordi Díez dedicated to the manacorí and that looks powerful in the Roland enclosure Garros).
An image of the academy’s main court, with the Brendan Murphy sculpture in the foreground
The host nods.
–That is the only wink we allow ourselves. This is not Nadal’s temple. We don’t want the place to be based on it.
(That role is reserved for the Rafa Nadal museum, a more secluded space, for pre-arranged visits).
A few steps further, I witness a paradox.
-Look! Isn’t that Nadal? –I ask Antonio Arenas.
And so it is.
On an indoor court, mid-morning, the tennis legend (a legend whose elite career closes this week, in the Davis Cup in Malaga) trains with Nathan Trouvé (18), a French sparring partner who is training in the academy and is listed as the 1,317th on the ATP circuit.
“Toni Nadal created the philosophy: volume, consistency, intensity, what we see in Nadal”
Nadal’s team contemplates the session. There are Carlos Moyá, Rafa Maymó and Gustavo Marcaccio, his unconditional fans.
-Hello! –Marcaccio greets us.
We answer you.
Eugeni Aguiló, the photographer, takes advantage of the moment to take a range of photos of Nadal. He takes them from a distance, so as not to bother. In a few days, the manacorí will get on the plane, heading to Malaga, ready to close his career.
(This visit took place on November 5; twelve days have passed.)
Rafael Nadal and his team, little ones in the background, during their training, on November 5
–And what does it take to enter the academy?
–The applicant must show us their level of tennis. Some come and try out for a week; Others, those who live at a significant distance, send us videos. The interviewers also monitor your academic level. Families are also interviewed.
43 nationalities mix in the academy, a small UN that, in its eight years of existence, has trained a range of first swords. A dozen of them hang on the wall of the recreation room: there I see the portraits of Casper Ruud, Martín Landaluce, Coleman Wong, Alina Korneeva, Jaume Munar, Dani Rincón or Alex Eala.
The mural with the portrait of important disciples of the academy
–And Nadal is not there?
–I told you: it is not your temple.
(Nadal is one more, and the residents eat next to him in the restaurant and see him in the gym).
Young tennis players, in the gym of the Rafa Nadal Academy´
Alex Eala (19) is one of the most interesting pupils. She is Filipino. Today is the 158th on the WTA circuit.
–She is one of the players who best adapts to our work system –Anabel Medina tells me while we chat on the terrace of the Club House.
(Anabel Medina is the head coach of the women’s area of the academy; this weekend she left her captaincy of the Spanish women’s team, a position she has held for seven years.)
–And what is that philosophy?
–It was created by Toni Nadal and broadly speaking it is what we have seen in Rafa: volume of work, concentration, perseverance, intensity… the Spanish style that we have always had as an example, but that has been changing.
–In what sense?
–Before, the Spanish tennis player was rocky, very hard on land. We have now seen that the ground phase is secondary. It takes up less and less space on the calendar. Here we maintain the core, but we train more complete tennis players in all areas, evolving to be more aggressive, as Rafa did in his last years: to reduce points, the number of hits.
“Families know that we prioritize education, that this is not Mickey Mouse’s school.”
–And is it easy to change that?
–There is not much to change. The players come when they are twelve, thirteen years old… We educate them from the very beginning.
Read also
Today, the academy is training 160 tennis players between twelve and 18 years old. According to Business Insidera year of residency at the academy rises to $60,000.
(In the next course a program will be launched for tennis players between eight and twelve years old).
All of them study at the international school on site (beyond the tennis players, the school also welcomes kindergarten and primary school students). At one point during the visit, we see a line of toddlers passing by. The kids have their robes on and look at us with big eyes. Many of them are residents of the island but they chatter in English.
The school starts classes at eight in the morning. At 8:45 a.m., at the academy, the seniors train. In the afternoon, the little ones.
At ten, everyone goes to bed.
I ask what life was like there in 2020, in the days of confinement due to the pandemic.
–Imagine: everyone locked up here for two months, without being able to train, without hardly seeing each other –Antonio Arenas answers me–. The good thing is that this is an island. And since you could not enter or leave Mallorca, and since no one could leave the academy, and since parents could not travel to pick up their children, there were no infections.
The surprise
On an indoor court, mid-morning, we surprised Nadal preparing for the Davis Cup finals
(…)
Apart from Anabel Medina, there are more head coaches. There are Gustavo Marcaccio, Marc Górriz, Joan Bosch (he directed Carlos Moyá for seven years), Pedro Clar, Joel Figueras and Tomeu Salvá.
In his time as a tennis player, Tomeu Salvá (37) was an outstanding junior. Upon leaving the elite, he graduated in Business Administration. Today he leads the sports management of the academy.
–We manage an updated Spanish system –Salvá tells me.
–…?
–It focuses on the mental strength that identifies Rafa. And in consistency from the back of the court with adequate, healthy and fluid technique. We jump from the springboard of health. Progress is in being there every day. We take more care of volumes. The medical department organizes the work structure so that there are fewer injuries. At first, we didn’t like the number of injuries. We also insisted on the beginning of the plays, something that was less worked on in the Spanish system. We delve into the service and the first strokes and the rest and the first strokes.
Tomeu Salva, in a moment of the talk with ‘La Vanguardia’
–And in the psychological aspect?
–Some parents prioritize education and know that tennis is an addition to their child’s education, and others prioritize the sports part and have perspectives that may be wrong and generate pressure on their children. Before them, you have to anticipate. We know that 99% of the tennis players will not be professionals: there is only room for 100. In general, those who come understand it: they are intelligent, they know that we prioritize good education, that this is not Mickey Mouse’s school. Your children will be traveled and that will enrich them. Do you know what we are most proud of?
-About what?
–From residents like Pedro Vives, who studies at TCU, or Max Basing, who is at Stanford, or Marc Ktiri, at Harvard.
Read also
#Nadal #dont
