Tennis was always an option for me, but never for my parents
For them, playing in a regional, state, or sectional tournament was time taken away from school, from my education. That was their mentality. I could play tennis, but only on a weekend or after exams were over.
So, I ended up winning a tournament during vacation, and when the next one came around, during the school year, I couldn't enter. I called them excuses, but they said they were arguments: "You don't take care of your racket, you're breaking the strings every week; your shoes don't last more than two months; I can't keep buying you clothes all the time. The entry fees are too expensive, and on top of that, I have to pay for your membership, new balls, and sacrifice my own activities to take you to yours."
In the end, I quit tennis and had to settle for observing how my friends got scholarships to go to the United States because they had intense training and support from ages 8 to 17.
Was tennis elitist? Yes, it had to be unless my parents had bet on me becoming a professional tennis player, and then the money meant to pay for private school tuition would have gone to a tennis academy or covering the cost of breaking strings every five days or paying for tournaments every week.
At that time, CONADE already existed, but nobody knew what it was. CONADE, along with the COM, had the function of the Olympics. But who had the function of detecting talent, training and developing it, looking after their studies, nutrition, all their entries, clothing, trips, coaches, physiotherapists?
I thought about this as soon as I arrived at CONADE, but it meant a possible confrontation with the federations (which ultimately happened); besides, the Pan American Games were just around the corner and the Olympic Games were a year away.
After returning from Rio 2016, we had to prepare for more appearances in Congress instead of continuing with the project of an academy that would take a comprehensive approach to children who had plenty of talent but lacked opportunities. Quietly, we started with a prototype, beginning with basketball, taking into consideration that, after a trip to Switzerland, we developed a great relationship with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
Through social media, and under the supervision of the national team coach, Sergio Valdeomillos, and Ramón Díaz, we recruited 37 children, aged 14 to 17, after evaluating almost eight thousand prospects.
We provided these kids with everything: a place to live (the National Center for High Performance, better known as the CNAR); food (following nutrition standards set by experts); coaches (the national team staff), and we also required them to continue their academic education within the CNAR.
Today, these kids are undefeated. No one in the country can defeat them, and they have now had to face off against universities and foreign teams. 80 percent of them had never been part of a national team, and some had never seen an airplane or an elevator.
Several of them have received scholarship offers to go to the United States, and one of them, only 16 years old, achieved the feat of setting the all-time three-point record in the Professional Basketball League in Mexico (17), surpassing any professional player.
With these results, we understood that it was time to export the model to other sports. That is why we set out to look for the great icons of our sports to invite them to be part of this project.
The premise was one: "let's give back to the sport, which they love and which has given them so much, a little of what they received. Share your stories, your experience, your life experiences; join this project. Let's not allow talent to slip away, because the future Julio César Chávez, Fernando Valenzuela, or Gustavo Ayón had to leave sports to work, to put something in their mouths before going to sleep."
And so, we decided to continue with boxing, with the support of the World Boxing Council; baseball, with MLB and the Arizona Diamondbacks; basketball, with the NBA; mixed martial arts with the UFC; tennis, with the Rafael Nadal Academy; and indoor and beach volleyball, where we have no opposition.
This is the formal beginning, and we are about to close deals with other sports such as golf, cycling, basque pelota, swimming, and athletics. Each one with a strategic alliance that allows us to excel.
March 7th will be remembered as the start of change in a new model of sports in our country. I'm certain there will be skepticism, but in the end, we're not reinventing the wheel; we're simply meeting the needs of virtuosos in sports. We're not killing their hunger to win; we're simply giving them everything to win, to become the next ones, the future of sports in Mexico.
ACADEMY CONADE is today the public policy on sports for the detection, recruitment, training, and development of new athletes for our country.
Alongside the private sector, we're breaking down barriers to find, in every corner of our country, the children who have dreams, those who are willing to sacrifice, to push themselves to their limits. We may have doubts, but it's all part of the process.
Something tells us that we're on the right path. The path is tough, but those few will give meaning to every attempt. One, five, a hundred, as many as necessary. The best. We are them, we are us, because together we are better. Together we are the sport of Mexico, and together we will be the next ones.