Behind every great athlete there is an unavoidable work and effort from the earliest ages, and that is that we all have our beginnings. In the case of tennis in Spain, the cradle of notable players, the schools constitute the first level to be able to enjoy a multitude of sporting successes in the future. This is where the Nuevo Tenis Cuenca comes into play, which in the vicinity of the Luis Ocaña Sports Complex shapes the future racket aces.
Alfredo ‘Freddy’ Santos is the director of the school, which currently has around 220 registered -80 in paddle tennis and 140 in tennis-. More than 20 years guarantee this club in the training of young tennis players, where they work from the earliest ages to adults who want to start in the world.
THE METHODOLOGY
In the Nuevo Tenis Cuenca the tennis methodology is worked in a different way, according to the age of the practitioner. However, a more or less configured scheme is followed, which attends to the different areas to work on in tennis. Thus, the classes are divided into technique, tactics and open points. “All this training is concentrated in an hour and a half. In the case of the smallest, who start from scratch, you have to spend more time on technique. With adults, for example, it becomes difficult to train technique so much, since what they want is to play. Likewise, we do our part of technique, tactics and then open plays, with free points”, explains Rober.
They recently received a visit from ten young people from the Rafa Nadal Academy, the highly prestigious school for the Balearic tennis player. The contacts came through Freddy himself, who also runs a tennis school in the Valencian Community and who has a well-known name within the grassroots tennis coordination. From the Manacorí center they contacted him to send their young people to different schools and, of course, he took into account the Cuenca center. A beautiful experience, as defined by Rober Pardo, being able to share the boys and girls of both academies, facing players of different profiles and characteristics, which always enriches the sporting growth, which supposes “extra motivation for young people”. It is endorsed by Fredi Santos, who values the importance of the boys moving.
Regretting that there are only two or three federated clubs in the province, the director points out that the club usually moves to other regions, especially the Valencian Community, a nearby place where they have good weather, contacts and many participants. “I think we are working well. We have representation in regionals and there are a lot of people playing. The future is very difficult to predict, we have to focus on working well in the present and the future will be the result of what we do every day”, declares Santos.
One of the many young people who populate the school is Héctor Antolínez, 11 years old, who decided to sign up after seeing his idols play: Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz. He comments that the best of the club seem to him to be his teammates, with whom he has a great time, and that he enjoys the sport a lot. His beginnings were “quite complicated”, but he says very happy that little by little he is improving, especially on the backhand, the most difficult for him.
THE HEAD, KEY
To master the discipline of 23’77×8’23 requires enormous skill at a technical level, Rober declaring that few disciplines can compete in this regard with tennis. However, even the high level of technique required can be overwhelmed by the mental side, says Rober. For example, the mental strength of tennis players who come back from matches has always been praised.
And, drawing on national legends, Rafa Nadal has been a benchmark on how to return to the top after difficult periods with serious injuries and ups and downs in his prolific career. The head can play tricks or tricks, and that is something that is also worked on at the club. Despite not having sports psychologists, the instructors try to develop the boys in this aspect, Rober assuring that the figure of the psychologist is as important as that of the physical trainer.
“I think tennis psychology is given to you by the experience of competing, you work on it little by little. We also try to get feedback from the player, to tell you if he has been wrong at a certain moment to try to help him, ”adds the instructor.
TENNIS… AND VALUES
Within the sports base schools, the values inherent to it always go hand in hand in the classes, and that is something that the instructors are very clear about. In this way, they perform a “double aspect” of coach and educator, thus instilling principles that not only develop the practitioner in sports, but also personally, since it cannot be forgotten that they are at key ages in order to shape the person they will be in the future.
In this sense, Rober, together with the rest of the coaches at the tennis school, is very aware of the training of boys and girls. “I always tell them: you can win, lose, play well or badly… but what you can’t do is put on a show of unfortunate behaviour”, declares the youngster, pointing out that no tantrums or sporting behavior is tolerated in training, as could be be the recurring “throw the racket”, as seen in some ATP matches.
In this sense, Rober regrets the unsportsmanlike behavior that can be seen both in training competitions and in professional matches, which do not represent the true essence of tennis: a respectful sport with oneself and with the rival. “We are doing something right at the level of values, because our boys do not have bad behavior of any kind,” he values. Freddy Santos, corroborating that the behaviors seen on television may not be the most sporting, points to the need to know how to educate, first of all, at home, and on the part of the club, to be one more support in education. “Beyond teaching the technique of hitting or playing, we know that it is a part that also corresponds to us”, assumes the director.
With the ambition of adding a presence at the regional level and, why not, at the national level, Nuevo Tenis Cuenca continues to polish diamonds in the rough so that, who knows, they can bring out a new tennis jewel in Cuenca.
