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Centers of High Performance and Sports Technification

High level athletes have at their disposal the Network of High Performance and Sports Technification Centers, a set of 60 centers recognized by the Superior Sports Council (CSD) that guarantee, through 325 sports programs, technical-sports preparation both in the field of high level and high performance, as well as in the technification process.

These spaces have facilities and units oriented to meet all their needs and, in turn, allow the detection of talent and the development of sports promises.

The CSD coordinates this network of centers together with the Autonomous Communities and the Spanish sports federations.

Their classification is established according to criteria related to interest, objectives, facilities, available means, the specific departments or units with which they have access and the sports programs supervised by the sports federations.

According to these criteria, there are High Performance Centers (CAR), Sports Technification Centers (CTD) and High Performance Specialization Centers (CEAR):

High Performance Centers (CAR)

They are state-owned and/or regional sports facilities whose purpose is to improve sports performance by providing high-level athletes with the best training conditions and attending, as a priority, to the training needs of Spanish federations.

In Spain there are the following High Performance Centers:

  • CAR de Madrid, owned by the Superior Sports Council.

Located in the northwest of the capital of Spain, next to the green spaces of the Casa de Campo and Ciudad Universitaria, the CAR of Madrid concentrates the largest number of high-level athletes in all of Spain. It has a total area of 150,000 m2 and is managed by the Superior Sports Council itself.

It is oriented to the sport of high level and high performance.

With a polysports vocation, in recent years the CAR of Madrid has attended daily the practice 56 sports modalities, including paralympic disciplines.

The first phase of its construction ended in 1992, with the inauguration of the athletics module that is now named after the first Spanish Olympic athlete, Carmen Valero, with a six-street straight of 110m, braking zone and external safety bands, horizontal jumping area with 9m pit for long jumps and triple jumps and area of high jumps and pole.

In 1995, the works of the second phase were completed, and in 1997 the Multiple Pavilion I was inaugurated. This space includes the men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics rooms, rhythmic gymnastics, the 50-metre pool with eight streets, the gym and combat sports area, with judo tatamis and fighting tapestry, sauna, Turkish bath and jacuzzi and physiotherapy and recovery rooms.

In the year 2000, a third phase was completed, and in 2005 the Multiple Pavilion II was inaugurated with the fencing, weightlifting, canoeing, triathlon, boxing and combat sports rooms, the Olympic shooting gallery with a maximum distance of 50 meters, the gym and the 45x35m sports hall for basketball, handball, volleyball and badminton.

As an outdoor facility, the Madrid CAR has a 400m athletic track with eight streets for the training of athletes in races, jumping and launch areas and a street with artificial grass. It also has an artificial grass football field for training and teaching activities, pits for long jump and triple jump workouts and perch aisle.

This complex also has an artificial grass hockey field and a launch area (javelin, disc, weight and hammer), with changing rooms and a muscle building room.

In the year 2022, the archery module was inaugurated, with two shooting ranges.

Every day, about 950 athletes make use of the facilities of the CAR of Madrid.

In 2007, the construction of the new Joaquín Blume Residence for athletes ended. This residence has a capacity of 280 places and provides residents with fully equipped rooms and common services, such as study rooms, library, television room, hydrotherapy room, kitchen, dining room, cafeteria, garage, cleaning and laundry.     

In addition, in the CAR of Madrid there is an urinal of the Institute of Secondary Education Ortega y Gasset. It teaches ESO, Baccalaureate, Middle and Higher Vocational Training, Adult Education and preparation for the Access to Higher Vocational Training Cycles tests.

  • CAR de Sierra Nevada (Granada), owned by the Superior Sports Council.

This center is located in the natural environment of Sierra Nevada in Granada at 2,320 meters of height above sea level, a characteristic that makes it an ideal space for the practice of height training. In addition, it is only 70 kilometers from the coast of Granada and 125 kilometers from Malaga.

Its facilities have a total of 22,000 m2. Entre ellas cabe destacar la piscina de 50m, la pista de atletismo exterior de 400m, el módulo de atletismo interior, además de diversos pabellones multiusos.

His residence has a capacity for 180 athletes. It has several multipurpose rooms, ludoteca, restaurant, cafeteria, internet area, ski storage, bicycle washing area, laundry, etc. It offers athletes a variety of single rooms, double rooms, adapted rooms, suites for coaches, equipped with TV, telephone and internet access.

Its dining room has a capacity of more than 100 diners. It has a menu of quality and great variety, intended to cover the nutritional needs of the high-level athlete, with products suitable for people with various allergies and/or intolerances. In addition, its catering service is Halal-certified.

Although it does not have permanent concentrations of athletes, every year between 18 and 20 sports federations use this center, being the disciplines of swimming, athletics, rowing, triathlon, cycling and sport for people with physical disabilities the ones that most use its facilities.

  • CAR de León, owned by the Superior Sports Council.

This center located in the city of León occupies a total area of 26,900 m2, with 8,400 m2 destined for indoor facilities and 18,500 m2 of outdoor area.

In their spaces they regularly train about 200 athletes, half of them athletes. Throughout the year, more than 1,600 athletes make use of these facilities during the rallies and periodic activities. Currently, it hosts athletes from 17 Spanish sports federations.

The CAR complex of León was inaugurated in 2010 as a Specialized Center of High Performance of Athletics, already in 2015 when it was reclassified as a Center of High Performance (CAR) to become the fourth center of these characteristics of Spain.

It has not only high-level sports facilities, but also resources for performance analysis through biomechanics and physiology and services for the protection of the health of the athlete, such as sports medicine, traumatology, cardiology, physiotherapy, rehabilitation and psychology.

  • CAR de Sant Cugat (Barcelona), owned by the Government of Catalonia.

Located in the Barcelona municipality of San Cugat del Vallés, this center occupies an area of 180,000 m2 and has more than 30 years of experience in the preparation of athletes of the highest level. Its ownership belongs to the Generalitat of Catalonia, having a collaboration agreement on financing with the Superior Council of Sports.

Its state-of-the-art facilities follow all innovations in sports training and are equipped with the most advanced technology to develop high-performance programs. It has two athletic tracks (one indoor and one outdoor); an outdoor Olympic pool with ten streets and several indoor pools; rooms for weightlifting, taekwondo, wrestling, artistic gymnastics, Olympic shooting, fencing, table tennis, boxing, musculation and rhythmic gymnastics; polysports pavilions for basketball, handball, volleyball, futsal and hockey skates; climbing facilities; indoor and outdoor tennis courts; and a natural grass football field.

In its Science, Medicine and Technology unit, a team of more than 200 professionals specializing in Physical Preparation, Medicine, Physiotherapy, Physiology, Sports Psychology and Biomechanics coexist and work.

The center has an educational offer that allows athletes to take ESO and Baccalaureate at the Institute located within its facilities and with a highly qualified teaching staff. It offers Secondary, Baccalaureate and Intermediate Degree courses in Physical and Sports Activities in the Natural Environment; Intermediate Degree in Mountain and Climbing Sports, Soccer and Indoor Football; and Superior Degree in Physical and Sports Activities Animation.

In addition, this High Performance Center has a residence with capacity for 273 places.

It hosts a total of 33 sports programs: 16 of High Performance, 1 sports program of State Sports Technification and 16 sports programs of Autonomous Sports Technification.

 

Sports Technification Centers (CTD)

They are facilities of regional and/or local ownership and/or of Sports Federations that aim to cater for the improvement of athletes and whose activity is mainly carried out at regional level.

 

Specialized Centers

They are state-owned and/or autonomous and/or local facilities and/or sports federations whose objective is to be training centers for specific sports modalities that cannot be attended in the aforementioned centers. These centers are subdivided into High Performance Specialization Centers (CEAR) and Sports Technification Specialization Centers (CETD) whose main difference is that the activity of the latter is mainly focused on the autonomous area.

Currently, there are the following Sports Technification Specialization Centers:

  • Specialized Center for High Performance Cycling, in Palma de Mallorca (Baleares).
  • Specialized Center for High Performance Golf, in Madrid.
  • Specialized Centre for High Performance Rowing and Canoeing “La Cartuja”, in Seville.
  • Specialized Center of High Performance of Olympic Shooting “Juan Carlos I”, in Granada.
  • Specialized Center of High Performance of Sailing “Príncipe Felipe”, in Santander.
  • Specialized Center of High Performance of Rugby “Río Esgueva”, in Valladolid.
  • Specialized High Performance Center of Judo, in Valencia.
  • Specialized Center for High Performance Cycling “Velódromo Lluis Puig”, in Valencia.
  • Specialized High Performance Hockey Center in Beteró-Cheste-Valencia.