When kids need a weekly sport, these are the clubs and pools to start with. Train on Rayo Vallecano's own pitches in the red-sash kit, learn to swim where the 1986 World Championships raced, join a racket group of six, or ride a Shetland pony from age 4. Here's what we checked, from city sports centers to a pony club in La Moraleja.
The youth academy of Rayo Vallecano, based at the club foundation's sports complex in Ensanche de Vallecas. Boys' and girls' teams run from the youngest group, Debutantes, up to under-19, and every team plays in the official Madrid federation leagues. New players are placed in groups by level and coached in the club's own training method.
The pool complex built for the 1986 World Swimming Championships. It has two 50-meter Olympic pools (one indoor, one outdoor under a winter bubble), a diving pool with 4 platforms and 8 springboards, a teaching pool, and a warm-water pool used for baby classes. Summer adds a semicircular paddling pool with a waterfall and a kids' pool. Swim classes start at 15 months.
A big racket club in Montecarmelo with 30 padel courts and 17 tennis courts, indoor and outdoor, plus a pool, a lawn and a restaurant. Its academy runs year-long tennis and padel school groups for kids, with the same coach, classmates and time slot from September to June, and a summer campus that mixes padel, tennis, multisport and pool games.
A city-run sports center at the Puerta del Ángel edge of Casa de Campo, rebuilt in 2021. Indoors there is a 25-meter pool plus a shallow teaching pool for small children. In summer three outdoor pools open: a kids' pool and two recreational pools of 33 by 16 and 36 by 25 meters. Swim classes run for every age.
A sports park run by the Comunidad de Madrid on Avenida de Filipinas, on the site of a club that Canal de Isabel II water workers started in 1930. In summer it opens a recreational pool and a separate kids' pool. All year there is a skating rink, a sports hall, clay and artificial-grass tennis courts, padel and football pitches.
A riding school founded in 1982 as Pony Club La Moraleja, one of Spain's first schools to teach on ponies. Kids aged 4 to 9 ride Shetland ponies in the Mini Pony Club, in the arena, out in the countryside or doing vaulting. From about 9 or 10, riders move on to horses, with arena lessons and planned trail rides. It also runs therapeutic riding and birthday parties.
When kids need a weekly sport, these are the clubs and pools to start with. Train on Rayo Vallecano's own pitches in the red-sash kit, learn to swim where the 1986 World Championships raced, join a racket group of six, or ride a Shetland pony from age 4. Here's what we checked, from city sports centers to a pony club in La Moraleja.
The youth academy of Rayo Vallecano, based at the club foundation's sports complex in Ensanche de Vallecas. Boys' and girls' teams run from the youngest group, Debutantes, up to under-19, and every team plays in the official Madrid federation leagues. New players are placed in groups by level and coached in the club's own training method.
The pool complex built for the 1986 World Swimming Championships. It has two 50-meter Olympic pools (one indoor, one outdoor under a winter bubble), a diving pool with 4 platforms and 8 springboards, a teaching pool, and a warm-water pool used for baby classes. Summer adds a semicircular paddling pool with a waterfall and a kids' pool. Swim classes start at 15 months.
A big racket club in Montecarmelo with 30 padel courts and 17 tennis courts, indoor and outdoor, plus a pool, a lawn and a restaurant. Its academy runs year-long tennis and padel school groups for kids, with the same coach, classmates and time slot from September to June, and a summer campus that mixes padel, tennis, multisport and pool games.
A city-run sports center at the Puerta del Ángel edge of Casa de Campo, rebuilt in 2021. Indoors there is a 25-meter pool plus a shallow teaching pool for small children. In summer three outdoor pools open: a kids' pool and two recreational pools of 33 by 16 and 36 by 25 meters. Swim classes run for every age.
A sports park run by the Comunidad de Madrid on Avenida de Filipinas, on the site of a club that Canal de Isabel II water workers started in 1930. In summer it opens a recreational pool and a separate kids' pool. All year there is a skating rink, a sports hall, clay and artificial-grass tennis courts, padel and football pitches.
A riding school founded in 1982 as Pony Club La Moraleja, one of Spain's first schools to teach on ponies. Kids aged 4 to 9 ride Shetland ponies in the Mini Pony Club, in the arena, out in the countryside or doing vaulting. From about 9 or 10, riders move on to horses, with arena lessons and planned trail rides. It also runs therapeutic riding and birthday parties.