Tennis academies in Chile / Argentina

[naylor]

I am looking for a week's intensive course for myself and my son, on clay. I have played on clay many times myself in Spain, and I want to introduce my son to the stuff at an early age, to make him a good all-round player; and my knees won't take the pounding of playing 4 hrs. on hard courts for a whole week(!).

The third part of the equation is to have a bit of a family holiday, so we thought of going somewhere new – Chile or Argentina. Tennis (boys) / shopping (girls) in the morning, sightseeing in the afternoon, nice dinners in the evening!

I’ve googled the subject but nothing seems to come up, even in the countries’ Spanish sites. Does anyone know of / recommend any good tennis academies in Chile / Argentina?

Thanks.

[spinny]

If you are still interested, my in-laws are visiting from Chile We can reccomend some places to play. When I was there 2 years ago weplayed at Saussolito in Vina-del-mar. My email is ak2a@aol.com

[Pleepers]

I used to live in Santiago and Copiapo for several years when I was younger. This was during the time Rios was climbing the ranks and was becoming a world superstar -probably part of why I started playing tennis? I trained with the Campeones para Chile. Anyways, I can speak for Chile when I say that there are a lot of tennis clubs (mostly private) and I'm sure if you do a search for the names you will find the names of many clubs like: Club Alegeman (German Club) and Club Frances (French Club) and there are many others that I can't remember the name of. I know when I trained with Campeones it was at the Universidad de Catolica training site and these courts were open to the public and nicely located at the base of the mountains in the cortejeta. I never needed it, but you could even pay kids a few pesos to be ballboys while you played.

Anyways, I think if your Spanish is rusty my best advice would be to contact the Hotel at which you will be staying a few weeks in advance and talk to the concierge (they will most definitely speak English) and inform him/her of your intentions. They will be able to find out all the options for you in advance. Note that the seasons are the opposite in Chile and Argentina as they are here. Their winter is our summer and vise versa. Enjoy your trip, as these countries have so much more that red clay court tennis to offer, but if it is tennis you want to play -there is no doubt it won't be hard to find as these are very tennis orientated countries.

[naylor]

First of all, apologies, guys, I was back in the UK for three weeks (I live in New Zealand) so was unable to respond to your notes earlier.

Pleepers - the Chilean set-up looks identical to the Spanish one (which is where I grew up and learnt my tennis), with most - and the best - clubs being private. Still, at least in Spain there are many academies now (Lew Hoad started it, and now there are quite a few:- La Manga, Bruguera, Sanchez Casal, Equelite/Ferrero, etc.). And the good thing is you can do a very simple search in Google and the names pop up. So, were I still be living in the UK, finding an academy to relearn to play on clay (in either Spain, or France) would have been dead easy. Not so easy from NZ, though.

I did try writing to the Chilean tennis federation - in Spanish (I'm bilingual). Their answer just proved the point about f***ing administrators' thinking that "customer service" means that customers are here to serve them and keep them in cushy jobs... I got a one-liner "look through the list of our affiliated organisations".

Anyhow, it seems surprising that - (as you say) despite how tennis-oriented the Chileans have become, particularly after Rios, and then Massu and Gonzalez in the Olympics - they have yet to set academies up with an international dimension. You've been there and know how much these countries have to offer for foreign visitors. So, the prospect of combining a top foreign holiday with the opportunity to learn serious clay tennis in the countries where some of the top clay-court players come from should have registered dollars-and-cents (or pesos-y-centavos) somewhere locally?

Still, I'd like to book a programme before we travel, rather than rely on local arrangements after we arrive. So, if you (or anyone else) can think of a good academy in Chile or Argentina, do let me know! Thanks.

Spinny - thanks, I'll copy you a note to your email address.

[diegaa]

Hola Naylor
La verdad es que hay pocas academias internacionales aquí en Buenos Aires (suponiendo que quieras venir a esta ciudad) como las que tú buscas. Hace un tiempo existía una espectacular, en la cual entrenaban varios profesionales de la época, un centro de entrenamiento espectacular: se llamaba "Tenis CET". La tiraron abajo y construyeron un mall.
La verdad es que yo no conozco ninguna que sea para "turistas". Podés intentar contactar con el Vilas Racket Club, cuyo dueño es Guillermo Vilas. Allí tienen unas instalaciones fantásticas, difíciles de igualar.
Tal vez le puedas preguntar a Cavallino, a Andrés Guazzelli o a gonzalocatalino, todos argentinos miembros este foro (desde "members" los ubicas y les mandas un correo). Espero que tengas suerte.

[javier sergio]

Originally Posted by naylor

I am looking for a week's intensive course for myself and my son, on clay. I have played on clay many times myself in Spain, and I want to introduce my son to the stuff at an early age, to make him a good all-round player; and my knees won't take the pounding of playing 4 hrs. on hard courts for a whole week(!).

The third part of the equation is to have a bit of a family holiday, so we thought of going somewhere new – Chile or Argentina. Tennis (boys) / shopping (girls) in the morning, sightseeing in the afternoon, nice dinners in the evening!

I’ve googled the subject but nothing seems to come up, even in the countries’ Spanish sites. Does anyone know of / recommend any good tennis academies in Chile / Argentina?

Thanks.

En Argentina Alejandro Cerundolo (ex ATP player) es un excelente entrenador y dirije (23 centros)
4702-6022
http://www.tenispoint.net/
suerte

aqui se lo puede ver hablando de su centro;
http://segundosaque.com/ (click en entrenadores)

[naylor]

Diegaa – agradecidísimo por la información, contactaré con el club de Vilas. Dá la casualidad que (hace más o menos unos treinta años) Vilas solía venir a entrenar con Tiriac a mi club de tenis en Londres durante las dos semanas antes del comienzo de Wimbledon, ya que (en aquel entonces) teníamos unas de las mejores canchas de hierba de Inglaterra. La historia del Tenis CET que me cuentas es apabullante, hoy en día todo este comercialismo no hay quien lo pare. No he estado nunca en Buenos Aires – mi padre sí, y me enseñó muchas fotografías que me encantaron, así que me gustaría visitar vuestra capital en un futuro muy próximo.

Javier – gracias también por la referencia a Toto Cerundolo y TenisPoint.

[diegaa]

let me know how it goes

[diegaa]

Naylor, por qué no te fijas también en la academia de "Batata" Clerc...? Parece muy buena, aunque creo que es sólo para chicos.

here: http://www.academiaclerc.com.ar/

also you may wanna check this out: http://www.bue.gov.ar/agenda/?menu_i...cha=2007-05-03 . It says there are a 3 day intensive course.

[bm3]

Originally Posted by diegaa

Naylor, por qué no te fijas también en la academia de "Batata" Clerc...? Parece muy buena, aunque creo que es sólo para chicos.

here: http://www.academiaclerc.com.ar/

Has anyone noticed that the site says Batata was born in 1968?? So he made his professional debut at 7, was #4 at 13, and retired at 20.
Nice typo

[diegaa]

naylor, parece que revivió tenis cet. yo pensé que había desaparecido, pero parece que no. que sólo se habían "mudado".
http://www.cettenis.com.ar/

[javier sergio]

Originally Posted by bm3

Has anyone noticed that the site says Batata was born in 1968?? So he made his professional debut at 7, was #4 at 13, and retired at 20.
Nice typo

He was born in 1958, he is just trying to look younger..............