Lessons from the Spanish

Written by: Staff on 25th April 2012

Lessons from the Spanish |

In my recent travels, I’ve had the chance to learn from in-depth contact with the “Spanish System”. Spain’s current dominance in futbol and tennis has to make one think about what they possibly do to continually churn out top level athletes. On top of an obsessive mentality to have fun and enjoy the sport all-day everyday, there is a set system of technical skills that are literally drilled by basket into every athlete everyday. This includes footwork to a very exacting degree, and stroke mechanics that are very basic but lead to more advanced methodologies of course. The advantage of having this system is that at any given point, the budding athlete always has a solid foundation to fall back on. If you follow Rafael Nadal, we all know about his brute ability as an athlete. But as a tennis player, he’s constantly going through alterations in his strokes. For example, look back to his 2010 US Open where Nadal’s new serve grip altered his motion and provided more velocity. He’s since reverted back to a more slicing serve for percentages but the fact remains that amongst all the top players, he implements a lot of change and has the versatility to do so.

Footwork is the most essential aspect of the game today. It is the organization that gives a player stability and fluidity out on the court. During the toughest moments of a match, organization is what determines consistency, balance, nerves, and winning. The basic mantra of the Spanish footwork system is the concept of “2’s”. You can reach any ball by taking two adjustment steps and shuffles. There’s a rhythm to these shuffles and the directions (sideways, diagonals, and backwards). It’s also very efficient. Sure you’ll have those moments of extreme luck where winners fly off the racket with ease in matches, but remember that in the grander schemes of the sport, percentages weigh out that consistency wins more often. This is what I believe, after spending quite a bit of time studying and practicing with a former top 50 ATP Spanish player (Juan Viloca), is an essential portion of the Spanish approach.

So let’s look at the training mentality Spaniards. Let’s face it, they train hard – Burning the lungs until they can’t stand, hitting balls until they can’t feel their arms or wrists, and grinding on a clay surface all day long. This would be a typical day for a youngster in Spain. And they’ve been doing this so long that it is normal. So when we read about Andre Agassi in his Open autobiography about his torturous practice sessions, I’d imagine a Spanish player thinks to himself: “Well… How else are you supposed to get better?” To further some of the similarities, I’ve been an eye-witness or ear-witness where Spanish coaches simply give instruction to hit harder and deeper. It’s the environment as well. There are so many former top 100 or top 50 Spanish players in Spain that it is no longer impressive. Imagine that for a minute. Let’s say you go to your local tennis club and there happens to be a guy coaching there who used to play all the Slams and Masters events regularly. That’s pretty much how it’s like in Barcelona!

These are just a few points in the grand brainstorm of the Spanish system that I’ve been learning about. It’s obviously working for a lot of the current Spanish players including Nadal, who just won his 8th consecutive Monte Carlo Masters title. I just hope to shed more light on the topic for those of you interested.

Shubert