Rafa Nadal: “The Academy is a very special project for me”
The Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar’s raison d'être is education through sport by means of academic and sports programmes that have a positive influence on the players’ personal development and comprehensive training. On the fourth anniversary of its inauguration, Rafa himself wanted to reflect on the importance of this project, as well as the goals it pursues:
“I have been young and I know how difficult it was for my parents to help me achieve my dream. In the end it was school on the one hand and training and tournaments on the other, so there were many complicated things that took up huge amounts of their time. Here we always knew we needed a comprehensive package so that children can have things to hand when they really need them: a medical centre, fitness training, tennis facilities, etc. Of course, one the most important things is the school, an international school where children don’t miss out on something that I believe is vital for most of their futures; academic formation and education”.
The Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar combines high-performance sports coaching and school teaching in order to develop excellent tennis players, applied students and people who are great for society. Thus, the players that come from every corner of the world to receive an education at the Academy combine their tennis activities with excellence in their studies, something that Rafa wanted to comment on: “Another of the main goals is for the children to leave here with important and positive values and for their learnings and experiences at the Academy to help them to progress as people and leave here ready with the foundation required to dedicate themselves to whatever they choose to do”.
