Which academy to choose?

[James Richardson]

I would recommend for you if you want to play lots of futures and get
in some good training that you go to Barcelona. One club in particular
draws my attention at the moment called Andres Gimeno. It is where
Almagro and Granollers are currently training. I have an affiliation
with them and I even attended their academy for a number of years. If
this is something you'd like to consider then I can get the latest
price scheme for you.

There are many ITF futures around Catalunya and most of them are 128
quali draws so it's easy to get in. The academy provides transport to
the tournaments and you'll be going along with many other players of
your age group and skill level so it's quite fun too - I'm unaware of
your current ranking.

The programme includes accommodation, breakfast, dinner, training all
day and transport from the aeroport and to tournaments. So everything
you need to concentrate on your tennis. There is big level in and
around the club so that won't be a problem. There are also plenty of
national level tournaments each week so extra match practice ready for
the futures. Training consists of 2 hours in the morning and an hour
physical either on the beach or in the gym. And then in the afternoon
playing a couple of hours. The accommodation is with affiliates of the
club and you will be staying with other tennis players of a similar
age.

All the futures out there are played on the clay as is the training.
As you know there is no better surface for practising long rallies and
keeping out of injury.

I also have affiliation with some performance academies in California,
Florida, the UK, France, Germany. So it's your choice, but my
recommendation would be to go to Spain considering the amount of
futures tournaments and climate.

Hope this helps, let me know what you think

James Armstrong