Andy Murray

Fitness, one pillar of the ASC 360 Performance System

Fitness in tennis represents a very strong and important pillar on the players preparation; a well designed physical plan can be the key factor for a successful match result. At ASC daily physical training is composed of 1 hour of athlete-specific performance training; working on different aspects including: speed, power, agility, quickness, coordination, balance, and core.

How Tennis and School helped me open opportunities on my next step in life

As the Class of 2019 prepares to graduate from ASC/ ESIS, a wide variety of opportunities await them in life, most immediately at colleges and universities throughout the United States. The 13 seniors, comprising the largest Academy class from Naples to graduate thus far, have accepted offers from some of the finest academic and athletic programs in the nation, among them Tufts University, Michigan State University and Brigham Young University.

Words From our ASC Senior Student-Athletes

There are only a few weeks for the long-awaited graduation of our students-athletes at ASC Florida, we wanted to interview our senior students and know their stories of how they got to Sanchez-Casal, what their expectations are in this new university stage, and their advice for young people who seek to balance tennis with their studies; they told us how all the effort was worth it in the end after so many years of sacrifice and hard work. Clara March, Aleksandra Caricir, and Casey Cummings of the Sanchez-Casal Florida Academy.

20 YEARS AGO

The night before last we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Sánchez-Casal, with the whole Sánchez-Casal family in Barcelona. All together, we passed games and challenges in team building activities. There have passed twenty years since the Academy’s foundation but yesterday we all played as if we were children.

#14 SUCCESSFUL HABIT FOR OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

It’s been 18 years since we founded the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona, and 4 since we opened our academy in the US. Our mission is very clear: to provide opportunities in both tennis and education. We have helped lots of students to go through college placement process and take advantage of the fantastic education system provided by the USA, which allows players that love a sport to practice it and attend college at the same time. In Spain and the rest of Europe, those possibilities quickly vanish. If you want to succeed in tennis or any other sport, you won’t find any infrastructure or competition.

Reflections on College Athletics and Scholarships

The month of November has been a special time here at Academia Sanchez-Casal. First, we had our alum Andy Murray capture the number one spot in the ATP rankings and later during the National Letter of Intent (NLI) signing period we had six student-athletes formalize their commitments to some of Division I’s top academic and athletic schools: River Hart- University of Minnesota, Victoria Emma- University of Florida, Edson Ortiz Tovar- University of Alabama, Zummy Bauer- Georgia Tech, Tristan McCormick- Notre Dame, Fletcher Scott- University of Illinois. For these high school students, this event marked an important milestone and sets them on a path to continue their tennis careers while also earning a quality education.

#12 SUCCESSFUL HABIT FOR OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Michelle Konkoly is all energy and determination. Last summer, the 24-year-old athlete saw her dreams fulfilled when she won 4 medals at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio and broke two Paralympic records in the S9 100m freestyle and the S9 50m freestyle.

Originally from Pennsylvania, at Georgetown Konkoly joined the university’s swimming team. Her life was changed dramatically, however, when in her freshman year she fell five stories out of her dorm window and was seriously injured. She fractured several ribs and a vertebra, damaged her spinal cord, and as a result, was left paralyzed from the waist down.

IMPROVE YOUR TENNIS LEVEL WITH SELF-TALK

Many times we see tennis players motivating themselves on court, with phrases like “Come on!” or “Got it!”. Or we see how they give instructions to themselves, like “Fast!”, or “Position”. Is this useful for players? Do they do this in an instinctive way, or do they learn how to do it? Normally, these kinds of techniques are part of their training and the mental work they do, which every day becomes more and more important in the professional tennis world.

From student-athlete, to number 1 in the world

Today is one of those days when you walk around with a big smile on your face. I am proud of what I do; I am part of the journey helping others create opportunities in tennis, education and life. Therefore when you wake up and realize that one of your student-athletes has fulfilled his potential and becomes NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD, it just fills you up with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Everything that you work for makes sense.