Catalunya Tennis Academy

Catalunya Tennis Academy at a glance

Catalunya Tennis Academy is a Barcelona-area program that leans into something many academies treat as an add-on: day to day mental training. Director Félix Riba and his staff call their framework the Emotional Tennis system, and they have built the daily rhythm of training, competition support, and tutoring around it. The academy is based at Agora Barcelona International School’s sports campus in the Masia Bach residential community of Sant Esteve Sesrovires, about 25 kilometers from central Barcelona, with boarding, classrooms, and courts on or adjacent to the same site. Everything from pre-practice routines to post-match review lives under one operational roof so that players conserve time and energy for what matters most.

How it started

Riba’s coaching story stretches back decades in Catalan tennis. After competing as a junior for Spain, he coached at traditional clubs in the region and later collaborated with the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation before launching his own competitive training projects. Those projects coalesced into Catalunya Tennis Academy, carrying a simple but demanding idea into the present day: mental preparation is not a seminar or a motivational talk, it is a repeatable skill that must be trained daily. Over the years, the staff experimented with how to weave mindset into the flow of technical, tactical, and physical work. The result is the Emotional Tennis methodology, which gives each player a written plan, a set of checkpoints, and a cadence of one to one and group sessions that support tournament play.

Why Barcelona matters

The Barcelona region is a practical choice for year round tennis. Winters are mild by continental standards, summers are long, and rain interruptions are limited compared with northern Europe. The current base sits in a quiet residential area with views toward the Montserrat range, and it has straightforward road access from the city and the airport. For junior athletes, the geography does not just look good in photos. It means more weeks of consistent outdoor training, fewer schedule disruptions, and weekend tournaments within comfortable driving distance.

Barcelona is also one of European tennis’s most connected ecosystems. Clubs, academies, and competition calendars overlap in a way that gives players a steady stream of matchplay opportunities. Catalunya Tennis Academy has long operated within that network, including a historical footprint in Sant Cugat del Vallès, home to Catalonia’s high performance training hub. The result is a daily environment that balances focus with exposure: on campus you get structure and routine, and off campus you can test yourself against a deep pool of competitors.

Facilities you actually use

The academy’s value proposition is not a stadium tour. It is the practicality of a student athlete’s week when the school, courts, gym, and residence are all connected.

• Courts and sports complex: Training takes place at a multi sport campus with tennis and padel courts, football pitches, a sports hall, fitness spaces, and a swimming pool. For boarders, the walk from dorms and classrooms to training is short, which reduces wasted time and helps players show up fresher for afternoon sessions.
• Boarding: Players who board stay at the school’s residence. Rooms are typically double or triple, with study areas and communal spaces for supervised homework and downtime. Meals emphasize a Mediterranean pattern that suits training loads. The residence is designed for international students in the secondary school years, with pastoral care and house rules that support both study and recovery.
• Schooling: The partner school delivers the Spanish national curriculum alongside the International Baccalaureate, and it offers a sports-and-leisure vocational track. The headline for tennis families is flexibility. Timetables and academic support are structured to absorb training and travel so that players can keep school on track without compromising their athletic goals.
• Fitness and recovery: Strength, mobility, and conditioning sessions take place on site, typically in the late morning or late afternoon around court time. Recovery is treated as a skill: cooldown habits, mobility blocks, and basic monitoring help players bounce back after match days and tournament weekends.

Coaching staff and philosophy

Catalunya Tennis Academy is unusually explicit about the mental dimension of performance. The Emotional Tennis framework blends on court work, off court mindset sessions, and targeted match coaching during tournament travel. Players have both one to one and group sessions with a mental coach, while on court drills and physical preparation are adapted to the goals set in each player’s development plan.

The staff talk about competitive calmness as something they intend to reach within a defined window, not as a vague aspiration. You see this in the daily habits: brief pre practice prompts, match scripts for between points, and video or reflection tasks that turn every competition into a lesson plan for the week ahead. Riba’s longer view anchors the tone. Players are taught to extract positives from difficult moments, to measure progress in specific behaviors rather than just results, and to hold themselves accountable for routines they can control.

Programs and pathways

Families can engage with the academy in different ways depending on age, school stage, and goals.

• Emotional Tennis Program - full season: The flagship is a 10 month pathway aimed at making measurable competitive gains across one school year. It includes initial assessment, recorded goals, regular strategic tutor sessions, integrated physical preparation, and tournament coaching. International players can pair the program with boarding and academics on the same campus.
• Boarding plus school plus tennis: For families relocating to Barcelona for a season, the academy aligns daily classes, afternoon training, and supervised evening study into a single schedule. The message is simple: stop commuting and start consolidating.
• Day training: Local players train in afternoon blocks without boarding, using the same methodology and competition support as full boarders.
• Seasonal camps: Easter and summer bring short, high contact training blocks. The Easter camp typically runs across four days with morning and afternoon sessions and an option to add accommodation. Summer weeks offer full day options with or without boarding, and the venue can vary within the Barcelona area depending on court availability.
• Adults and custom holidays: The academy’s travel arm arranges adult and family programs in Barcelona, which is useful for parents who want to hit while their junior trains.

Training and player development

A good junior program is more than a list of drills. At Catalunya Tennis Academy, training aims to make habits automatic under pressure.

• Technical and tactical: The staff simplify cues into court situational work. Players are pushed to connect footwork patterns and swing shapes to tactical intentions they can call out and later review. Live ball games with scoring forfeits create stakes. Serve plus one progressions build points from the first shot. Pattern work is always tied to a match scenario so that players understand why a change matters.
• Physical preparation: The on site complex makes it straightforward to run year round strength and conditioning. The plan follows the same individual structure as on court goals, with blocks that scale up before tournaments and dial back after travel. Mobility, sprint mechanics, and core strength show up in the weekly rhythm, and coaches adjust loading in response to school stress or competition.
• Mental skills: The Emotional Tennis program schedules weekly one to one coaching and group workshops. Tournament support includes pre match routines, between point scripts, and post match debriefs that feed directly into the next training cycle. Players are taught to journal succinctly, to rate execution rather than just outcome, and to bring two or three clear adjustments into the next session.
• Educational support: The partner school provides continuity from lower secondary into the IB years or through a vocational sports route. Timetabling, supervised study, and language support help international players adapt quickly without starving training time.

Competition and academics under one roof

One daily issue for tennis families is the waste that accumulates in commutes between school, residence, and courts. On this campus, the staff work with the boarding and academic teams to align assessments, training peaks, and event travel. That coordination reduces interference between school deadlines and competition schedules, which leaves more energy for the serve at 5 5 in the third than for waiting rooms and bus rides. Parents notice the difference most in the second half of a season when the student athlete is still fresh enough to make a push.

Who trains here and what improves

The academy’s public testimonials point to regional and national level juniors who credit the program with better emotional control in matches. That focus on steady progress rather than famous names is telling. Day to day, the staff operate comfortably in the middle of the pathway where many players either break through or stall. You will see more sessions on second serve patterns, neutral ball tolerance, and body language after errors than on highlight reel trick shots. The gains show up in long rallies survived, in choices under pressure, and in players who know what they are trying to do in a tie break.

Culture and community

Boarding life is intentionally international and bilingual, with Spanish and English as daily languages. The residence emphasizes shared study and supervised homework, but there is enough communal space to decompress after training. Values like effort, teamwork, and respect are reinforced across dorm life and practice courts. Weekends often include matchplay around the city, and the local tournament calendar is dense enough that players can compete regularly without long travel.

For families comparing options within Spain, Barcelona has multiple credible programs. It can be helpful to read about Academia Sánchez Casal in Barcelona’s eastern suburbs, a large institution with a long record at the collegiate pathway. You can explore that model through our guide to Academia Sánchez-Casal in Barcelona, then contrast it with the more integrated school campus used by Catalunya Tennis Academy.

Costs, accessibility, and scholarships

Tuition for the full season Emotional Tennis pathway and boarding packages is provided on request, since the final plan depends on academic route, boarding status, and the number of coached tournament weeks. Seasonal camps publish sample pricing ranges each year that include training and, if chosen, accommodation and meals. Families should ask for current rates, what is included in the base price, which services carry extra fees, and how many weeks of tournament coaching are part of the package. The academy has offered sibling discounts on certain camp registrations in recent seasons. Scholarship availability can vary year to year and is typically tied to a player’s sporting profile and academic standing, so it is worth preparing a concise tennis CV and recent report cards before you inquire.

How it compares to other models

• Compared with the larger residential campus and in house sports science of the Balearic Islands, as seen at Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, Catalunya Tennis Academy is smaller and more tightly integrated with a partner school. The trade off is intimacy, daily contact with the lead staff, and short walking distances between dorms, classrooms, and courts.
• Compared with the Riviera hub at Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, known for big scale tournament hosting and a large training population, Catalunya Tennis Academy offers a lower athlete to coach ratio and a program designed around mental routines embedded in each session rather than occasional workshops.

These are different pathways rather than a single continuum. If your priority is brand scale and a campus that feels like a sports city, the large academies have obvious appeal. If you want coach access, a defined mental skills framework, and the practical advantages of a one campus school and boarding setup, Catalunya Tennis Academy makes a strong case.

What stands out

Two elements give this academy a distinct identity. First, the Emotional Tennis methodology is not a slogan. It is a working plan with defined checkpoints, one to one mental sessions, and coached tournament trips that translate process into behavior under pressure. Second, the operational setup at Agora Barcelona International School puts training, study, and boarding within one ecosystem, which is both efficient and sustainable for teenage athletes. Parents do not have to choose between missing classes and missing practice. Players do not have to spend their best energy on transit. Those are structural advantages that compound over a season.

Practical details

• Current base: Agora Barcelona International School sports campus, Urb. Masia Bach, Sant Esteve Sesrovires, southwest of central Barcelona.
• Integrated boarding and schooling for ages roughly 12 to 18.
• Historical ties to the Sant Cugat high performance ecosystem within the Barcelona metropolitan area.

Future outlook and vision

The academy’s priorities for the coming seasons are steady rather than flashy. Expect continued development of on campus training spaces, deeper collaboration with academic staff to refine timetables around tournament travel, and ongoing work to capture training data in simple formats that players can actually use. The staff’s long standing relationships across Barcelona’s clubs should keep the pipeline of sparring and matchplay healthy. If the program continues to measure what it values and to teach mindset as a daily habit, it will retain its niche as a focused, development first option in a city full of tennis.

Is it for you

Choose Catalunya Tennis Academy if you want a clear, teachable mental framework built into every session and a daily routine where school, courts, and boarding sit in one place. It suits juniors who thrive on personal contact with coaches, need structure to manage nerves and decision making, and value an international school environment that can flex around training and events. If your priority is a massive campus with constant on site tournaments and a revolving door of guest stars, you may prefer one of the bigger European academies we profile elsewhere. If you want a program that treats mindset as a trainable skill and uses the convenience of a single campus to protect time on task, this Barcelona option deserves a close look.