There is barely a ripple on the two outdoor pools but a small flat robotic cleaner glides across the floor of the olympic size 50 metre main pool ensuring a clean finish to go with the constant 27 degrees of the water. Looking down from the swimming level, the floodlight pylons of the 2 football pitches frame the view of La Caleta below and the clear Atlantic beyond. It’s going to be another hot sunny day, and perfect for pursuing sporting excellence.

This is the 56,000 square metre site of Tenerife Top Training, or T3 to its friends. The site has been supplied by Adeje council on a 25 year lease, and is in the final stages of development by Kurt Konrad S.L , financed by private money. Director Carlos Paulsen gave me a guided tour of the complex as workmen beavered away to have things ready to welcome the first eager sports enthusiasts at the end of August.

Starting down at pool level, the setting is impressive, the backdrop of the mountains and palm trees is complemented by the freshly planted shrubs on the banked sides of the complex surround. Golf Costa Adeje is T3’s neighbour, and like them, T3 has used traditional old Adeje stone walls to give a natural feel to the complex. Both the main pool and its half size twin, are headed at one end by a large roll over cover that will protect them from sand and dust, and also hold the water temperature in overnight, there’s no point in wasting the energy that is soon to be produced by solar panels.

Sports treatment and therapy are very important to T3, the whole complex is linked by ramps and lifts to make it wheelchair friendly and the main pool has already been sampled by disabled swimmers, over for the recent championships in Santa Cruz. For the dedicated swimmer, a third hi tech pool hides below and uses cutting edge bio mechanics to study a swimmers strengths and weaknesses. Three cameras below, above and outside the pool, produce a 3D image on a giant screen, as the swimmer heads into a 2.5 metre per second water stream for a 30 second burst. This piece of kit is unique in Spain and one of only 20 in the World.

Back outside, on the way down to the football pitches, we pass the court areas, where 3 tennis courts are just along from 7 padel courts. Padel is a fast growing, easy to play game, invented in Mexico and popular in South America and Spain. A seperate grass area is set aside for goalkeeper training, but the main pitches are a newly seeded natural pitch and an artificial surface, both will be in use until 10pm thanks to the floodlighting.

Inside the main building, changing and shower areas are kept seperate for swimming and pitch users, there are also large physio and general exercise areas plus an all purpose zone that can be used as a conference centre. T3 will be open to the general public daily, but they will also be attracting teams and clubs that want to combine a holiday with some intensive training. The Jardin Caleta hotel, on the coast and clearly visible from T3, will provide the accomodation for guests, already several european sports sides have made bookings for T3.

In this Olympic year, and with Spanish sport enjoying a major upturn, the timing is perfect for the opening of a new sports centre where the science and sheer enjoyment of sport can combine, T3 has the most up to date facilities to cope with this demand and experts on hand to coach and encourage.