In 2010 it was when the activity began at the school that the Foundation has in Anantapur, India, as well as the tennis project for young people with intellectual disabilities. Ten years later, the Rafa Nadal Foundation carries out its work in 24 schools and centers. In all of them, sport is used as a tool for integration and personal and social development
Throughout these ten years, more than 5,200 children and young people have been cared for; the majority of them come from vulnerable environments or at risk of exclusion Mallorca, July 23, 2020. The Rafa Nadal Foundation is a decade old; 10 years since the activity began in its first projects, in India and Spain. Since then, the Balearic tennis player Foundation has evolved to become a benchmark in the use of sport as a vehicle for personal and social development, taking the values and learning inherent in sports to disadvantaged and collective environments at risk of social exclusion.
“Focusing our help on children and young people living in vulnerable environments was the best decision we could have made,” says Rafael Nadal. “I think it is important that they learn to work to give their best, to strive day by day … and do it enjoying. Because this is how I understand life, both on and off the slopes, “he adds.
With sport as its axis, the Foundation currently works in three areas: social integration of vulnerable minors, care for young people with intellectual disabilities, and promotion of sports and academic talent. In total, it is present in 23 centers in Spain, and has a school in India. The objective in all cases is to influence the personal and social development of the minors and youth served, creating equal opportunities for all of them, regardless of their personal, social or economic conditions.
“Through sport, we promote positive values, behaviors and skills in the face of the challenges of daily life and in relation to the environment. We are nourished by the power that sports practice has as an empowerment tool and transmitter of learning ”, explains Maria Francisca Perelló, director of the Rafa Nadal Foundation.
From 2010 to present
The first project was the creation of a tennis school and training center in Anantapur, India, in collaboration with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation. The NETS (Nadal Educational Tennis School) is still fully operational, serving an average of 250 children each year. Shortly after, the More than Tennis program began, which, together with Special Olympics Spain, promotes the practice of this sport among young people with intellectual disabilities. This project began its journey 10 years ago, and is currently present in 21 sports schools throughout Spain.
In 2014, the Rafa Nadal Foundation Center in Palma was launched, where since then the entity's reference project has been carried out. It is a complementary program to school training, with which children from vulnerable environments are cared for, offering them activities framed in the socio-educational, sports and psychotherapeutic fields. In 2019, a second Rafa Nadal Foundation Center was opened in Valencia.
Finally, in 2015 the Rafa Nadal Foundation expanded its work to a third area of action, focused on promoting sports and academic talent. With the Study and Play scholarship program, makes it easier for young Spaniards to combine their studies with their sports career at universities in the United States.