Drawing inspiration from the success of Alex Eala, the National Academy for Sports (NAS) is eyeing to do the same for promising young Filipino athletes what the Rafael Nadal Sports Academy did for the fast-rising tennis sensation.

Newly-appointed NAS executive director

Francis Carlos “Kiko” Diaz stressed this point on Tuesday, saying he underscored the idea of thinking globally at this time when he talked to the different program heads of the government-run academy upon assuming office last week.

“Alex Eala was an example of an athlete who was groomed and taught by a sports academy — the Rafael Nadal Academy with an academic program na naka-imbed dun sa program niya,” said Diaz, appearing in the first session for 2026 of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Philippine Sports Commission media room.

“We have seen the huge success of Alex Eala,” Diaz, a former dean at the University of the Philippines College of Human Kinetics, said.

“We are doing the same thing now at the NAS. It can be likened to that (Nadal Academy),” added Diaz in the same public sports program presented by San Miguel Corporation, PSC, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, and the country’s only 24/7 app ArenaPlus.

Established in 2020 through Republic Act 11470, the NAS has its main campus set up at the New Clark City Sports Complex in Capas, Tarlac where it currently housed 237 student-athletes.

Akin to the Philippine Science High School and the Philippine High School for the Arts in Makiling, Laguna, Diaz said the academy has a two-fold responsibility.