Archive for April 2nd, 2009
From hard hats to soft slippers at T3

On my first tour of the nearly finished Tenerife Top Training centre in La Caleta, I had to cover my head. Returning a couple of weeks ago, I tried to put the blue plastic bag I was offered over my head, before the euro dropped and I realised it was one of 2 shoe covers, so I could go through to the swimming area to watch Dutch and German internationals in action.

The T3 centre looked impressive with the final touches added, you can see my interview with Dutch Olympian, Femke Heemskerk, in the latest free copy of The Paper.

Manchester City may have been and gone, but the 2 football pitches, one real, one artificial, are in constant use and during Semana Santa (Easter Week) they will be home to a youth football academy, at the same time as open tournaments are held for local tennis and padel players. Padel is a fast growing form of tennis, originating from Mexico and popular in Spain. It’s a doubles game, less reliant on strength, and played with an under hand serve and use of the walls-as in squash.

The 56,000 square metre centre is state of the art, and includes a water flume ( a high powered treadmill) and a gym with machines driven by air pressure rather than weights. There are already many more professional teams from various sports booked to come to Tenerife to use the centre, a much needed boost for tourism.

I shall be popping in over the Easter week to add new content and photos for the new T3 blog site, one of many Sorted Sites websites I copy write for. Hopefully the young athletic types won’t be too put off by an old blonde fogey snapping and scribbling as they push themselves to the limit. If I get too tired, I will have to adjourn to the sun drenched juice and snack bar, after all, at my age I have to pace myself.