Minas Tênis Clube

Minas Tênis Clube

Type	Traditional club
Founded	November 15, 1935 (1935-11-15)
Founder	Necésio Tavares Waldomiro Salles Pereira Otacílio Negrão de Lima José Mendes Junior Benedicto Valladares
Headquarters	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Key people	Luiz Gustavo Lage (president)
Website	Official Website

Minas Tênis Clube (short, just Minas) is a social, recreational and sports club from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. By 2013, it has more than 73,000 members. Its patrimony comprises two urban units, the Minas I and Minas II, and two country units, Minas Country and Minas Tênis Náutico Clube. It also has its own indoor arena, named Juscelino Kubitschek Arena, which is a part of the Minas I complex.

Minas is best known for the professional teams it maintains, in a variety of olympic sports. It also maintains youth teams, and is recognized to be one of the most important formation centers of new sports talents in Brazil. Currently the club has approximately 1000 competing athletes, being about 900 youth athletes.^[1]

History

The land that would become the first location of Minas Tênis Clube (currently Minas I) was originally assigned to become a zoo at Belo Horizonte's original urban plan, from the 1890s. By the beginning of the 1930s the urban growth surrounded the land with residential areas. In addition, it was very close to the Palácio da Liberdade, by then the official residence of the governor of Minas Gerais state. Thus the plan for a zoo raised environmental and hygiene concerns among the locals and the top officers of the state administration. Moreover, at the time the city had few entertainment and sports facilities. The then major Otacílio Negrão de Lima, aware of this gap, demonstrated the interest to establish a sports center to replace the original project of a zoo.

Concurrently, prominent people from the high society in Belo Horizonte planned to found a big sport club to promote the practice of sports in the city. Necésio Tavares was the leader of this movement. He had previously created a volleyball team with his own name, and started the movement to get funding and supporting to found a club named Serra. The then 23-years old named Waldomiro Salles Pereira, whom had the intention to found a club for the practice of tennis, get to know about Necésio's initiative, and approaches him to join forces, and to found a unique new club. Together, they develop the concept of the Serra Tennis Clube.

The group, knowing the intention of the major to promote the sports in the city, asked him to donate the land to the foundation of the new club. The major agrees with the condition that the name should be changed to Minas Tênis Clube, and that the club's first president should be appointed by the then governor of the state, Benedicto Valladares. All the interests were aligned, and the official act of the club's establishment was signed on November 15, 1935, in the headquarters of the Minas Gerais's Automobile Club. At the occasion, Necésio Tavares was appointed as the club's first president.

Locations

The combined area of all locations is 471,000 m² (approximately 108 acres).

Minas I

The Minas I complex occupies an area larger than 31,000 m² (being 71,000 m² constructed)^[2] in the Lourdes neighborhood (coordinates: 19°56′10″S 43°56′28″W / 19.93611°S 43.94111°W / -19.93611; -43.94111). The complex is composed by the Juscelino Kubitschek Arena, the Aquatic Park and the Sports square.

Originally, the headquarters was the only one from the club, thus a synonym of the club's name. However, since the opening of Minas II, it was naturally re-branded as Minas I (Minas One) to avoid ambiguity.

Minas II

The Minas II complex occupies an area larger than 34,000 m²^[3] in the Serra neighborhood (coordinates: 19°56′42″S 43°55′4″W / 19.94500°S 43.91778°W / -19.94500; -43.91778). It is composed by several sports courts, swimming pools, and the main building, which has administration facilities, and ballroom for events. The name of Minas II ("Minas Two") emerged as a natural choice since the inception, and remains until today. Moreover, caused the original headquarters to become known as Minas I ("Minas One").

In the early 80's, Minas Tênis Clube was already established as the most popular and traditional club in Belo Horizonte, and there was a high demand for its expansion. In 1982, it puts the cornerstone for the second headquarter of the club. The sports facilities were inaugurated in December 1984. In 1985, it was started the constructions of the main building, which was concluded in 1986.

Due to its large size, Minas II has been for long time the chosen venue for large events from the club. This includes the annual June Festival, but also big music concerts and sports tournaments.

Minas Tênis Country Clube

The Minas Tênis Country Clube is located in Taquaril neighborhood and occupies a total area of 285.750 m², being 148 mil m² of it preserved native vegetation (coordinates: 19°55′44″S 43°52′41″W / 19.92889°S 43.87806°W / -19.92889; -43.87806).

The Country Club de Belo Horizonte was a social club founded in 1933, by Alcindo Vieira.^[4] Its current main building had its construction started in 1954 and concluded in June 6, 1958. In 2000 it was incorporated by Minas, creating the Minas Tênis Country Clube. The previous members from the Country Club became automatically members from Minas Tênis Clube, thus gaining access to the other facilities.

Minas Tênis Náutico Clube

The Minas Tênis Náutico Clube is located by the Ingleses' Lake in Nova Lima, and occupies the total area of 117.000 m² (coordinates: 20°9′39″S 43°57′35″W / 20.16083°S 43.95972°W / -20.16083; -43.95972). The first stage of the construction occupies an area of 29.346 m². It started to be built in 1998, and concluded in March 2000.^[5]

Sports

Artistic gymnastics

The club maintains a team of artistic gymnastics since 1977. Currently it disputes under the name Sitran/Minas.

Basketball

The club has a professional men's team, which currently plays for Brazilian Championship under the name Icatu/Minas.

Futsal

The club has a professional men's team, which currently plays for the Brazilian Championship under the name Cia. do Terno/Minas.

Judo

The club maintain an olympic judo team, which currently disputes under the name Belo Dente/Minas. Among the most successful athletes are Luciano Corrêa, Ketleyn Quadros and Érika Miranda.

Swimming

The club has a long tradition in swimming. Its swimming team is one of the most successful in Brazil, and is the current champion of the most two prestigious national competitions: the Maria Lenk and José Finkel trophies. Currently the swimming team competes with the name Fiat/Minas, repeating the same name and sponsorship from the men's volleyball team in the late 80's.

Among the most famous swimmers that have competed for the team, there are Kaio Márcio de Almeida, Joanna Maranhão, Thiago Pereira, Marcus Mattioli, Rogério Romero and the Olympic champion César Cielo.^[6][7]

Tennis

The club maintains a tennis team, which competes under the name Cultura Inglesa/Minas.

Trampolining

The club maintains a trampolining team since 1999. Currently it competes under the name BH Shopping/Minas.

Volleyball

Minas has both professional men's and women's teams. The men's team is the most successful volleyball team in Brazil, with a record of nine national titles. The women's team has also been among the most successful teams in the Brazilian league.

References