Rafa Nadal and Ona Carbonell preside the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar graduation

• The Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar hosted the graduation of 39 students who have come to the end of their secondary education at the Rafa Nadal International School.

 

• With just one month left until the start of the Olympic Games, Ona Carbonell inspired and motivated the young students to continue to make their dreams come true.

 

 

Manacor, 16 June 2021. After a cordial and emotional academic ceremony, 39 students ended their school education by graduating from the Rafa Nadal International School, the international American school that forms part of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.

As is now traditional, Rafa Nadal presided the ceremony and addressed the families, teachers and young students to congratulate them on completing a very important stage of their lives. During his speech, Rafa highlighted the importance of fighting to overcome adversity:

“In the future, we will be following your journeys and enjoying all of your professional and personal successes, of which I’m sure there will be many. But I have to tell you that it will not everything on the journey will be joyful. You will have bad moments, tough periods and many obstacles that come between you and your goals. And it will be these painful moments that will help you to grow as students, as tennis players, as professionals and, above all, as people. In those moments, you should be humble enough to face the difficult situations, look forward with optimism and do whatever it takes to overcome the barriers in front of you. And from there, there is only one formula: work harder, fight harder and fully dedicate yourself. Sometimes you will achieve what you are looking for in a short space of time and sometimes it will take longer. But if you give 100%, you will never have any regrets. You know that I don’t often give advice, but if there’s one thing I have learned throughout these years it is to always pick myself up. I have given previous classes a message that I will repeat to you today because I believe it is essential; always remember the good people who help you grow and stay away from the harmful ones that don’t bring you anything. If you use the support of your family, positive friendships and good mentors, everything will be easier. Only then can you too be leaders in the future and help the people you will cross paths with throughout your lives”.

 

 

While at previous graduations the guests have been Pau Gasol, David Ferrer, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova (the latter two virtually), this year the guest of honour was Ona Carbonell. With one month to go until she competes in the Olympic Games, the captain of the Spanish synchronised swimming team was a source of inspiration for the students, not only because of her sporting achievements, but also because she has made a name for herself for combining maternity and elite sport. In her speech, she also had words of motivation for the 39 graduates:

 

“Winning or losing is part of the learning process. It is a road that will lead some of us to be professionals in the sport we love and others to understand it better from the outside, applying their learnings to other fields of life. In any case, for all of you it is not a question of winning or losing, or of becoming or not becoming a professional (believe me). It is a question of giving everything, training to improve, day by day, to make the most of the opportunities we have, the coaches we have. That is one of the strengths I admire in Rafa (among others) and that is what I’m sure you’ve learnt at this Academy”.

 

Alexander Marcus Walker (Director of the school), Theeus Devitt, (Academic Director) and graduates Caroline Hannah (USA), Henrieta Licha (Slovakia) and Marc Alborch (Spain) also spoke at the ceremony.

While the ceremony was attended by a restricted number of family members, those that could not be there were able to follow the ceremony on a live stream that was set up for them.

The ceremony ended with the presentation of the diplomas by Rafa Nadal himself, who individually congratulated each of the young students, who are now preparing for the beginnings of their university lives.

 

 

What is the Rafa Nadal International School?

The Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar is also home to the Rafa Nadal International School, a mixed Anglo-American international educational school for children from 3 to 18 years of age. While the original concept of the school was designed with the goal of enabling the players at the Academy to be able to combine their tennis and academic educations, from the start, Rafa wanted to open its doors to the children of Mallorca, whether or not they played tennis, so that everyone could benefit from the facilities and the academic programme. This means the players at the RNA share the classrooms with other students, which encourages rewarding exchanges and educational and cultural experiences.

The syllabus at the RNIS has been designed with a distinctive programme that prepares all students both professionally and personally through the development of the intellectual, emotional and social aptitudes necessary for having a positive impact on their respective communities. The modern, comfortable, technological and sporty facilities at the RNIS constitute the ideal environment for learning.

One of the Rafa Nadal International School's biggest goals is to offer its students the opportunity to access a university in the United States or any other part of the world, with a tennis and/or academy scholarship. In the 2020/2021 academic year, 100% of the tennis-playing students that graduated and planned to go to the USA to study, were accepted and received scholarships at US universities. The rest of the graduates started their university education at centres in the UK, Spain, Germany, Holland and the UAE.