By Emilio Sánchez Vicario, CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy.
This last weekend has been really special. My trip to Spain drained my physical defences, fever took its toll on my body and bad posture froze up my neck. Although I wasn’t feeling well, I went home without remembering that it was the weekend of the Davis Cup. I sat in front of the television watching match after match, with all the emotion of the competition – what a great weekend I’ve had! To see Hewitt take the fifth set against the Bryan brothers, Noah lead his super team, the young Coric win a complex fifth point, or Zverev, another young player, crushed by the pressure of the fifth point. At the end I was left with Andy Murray and his epic victory in front of his people, against Nishikori.
The Davis Cup is so great, so special, absorbing and powerful that people sing, cheer and dress in the colours of their players. At last in Great Britain they are beginning to feel the team colours and see Andy throwing himself into playing for his country, enjoying the fight, I love it.
Another one of the most important reasons that I was waiting with so much excitement was to see the new advert from our latest campaign on Tennis Channel. In it, we present our Intercontinental program with the spectacular Ali Collins appears playing at the Academy.
Also, as I was reminded by Twitter, it’s time for celebration. Yesterday marked 25 years since I managed to reach the finals of the Indian Wells Tournament against Boris Becker. It was at that time, being close to Los Angeles, that I had the opportunity to visit my sister Marisa in Perperdine where she was studying. That was the moment when the idea of creating an academy began to take shape, not the typical tennis centre, but a new concept: to unite High Performance Tennis with quality schooling under the American academic system.
From my trips abroad and my own experience, I realised how difficult it was to be able to combine training with studies, trips and tournaments, because back in my day everything was done in a different place. You trained on one site, did fitness training in another, and then you had to go to the other side of town to study… With time I realised just how difficult it was to be a tennis player, and all the important stages that one has to get through in order to become professional.
It was always clear to me that if I created something, it would have to be an Academy where the players could also study. I wanted everything to be located in the same place to optimize time, and establish this essential order and organisation which every player needs.
This week is special to me… I won’t be playing in the Indian Wells Tournament final but I have managed to achieve something great: offering young people a program combining tennis and studying over two continents alongside the possibility to experience two cultures, two life experiences provided by the innovative and unique Sánchez-Casal Academy Intercontinental Program together with ES International School.
http://www.sanchez-casal.com/intercontinental
I have always thought that in terms of training, an academic education is a very important part of the development of a young sportsperson; in the competitive world we live in, those who combine tennis and studying prepare themselves for a future with a lot more guarantees.
Every year, when I see not just the number of graduates, but the human quality of these young people who are going on to study at university in the United States, I realise that this initial idea was the right one. Even more so when the United States continues to set the standards for universities that combine sport and studies.
Lastly, this photo of past Christmases shows that our dream to be able to study and play tennis has become a reality: Carlos, Delia and Nuria dressed, with pride, in their universities’ colours.
And what about you? Are you ready for the future?
Emilio Sánchez Vicario
CEO & Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy
