The Bandeja Magazine Issue 1

News
Off The Wall
with Padel Pussy...
It’s great to see padel getting national
news coverage. A recent article in a
broadsheet gave a whole page to
discussion about the game. It had a
focus on the business side of the sport,
with really good, positive input from
Christopher Wilkinson and Kevin McCollum
of Padel4All, Simon Pearson of David Lloyd
Clubs and Neil Morgan of JetPadel.
I personally, however, would like to see
a change in the narrative when journalists
report on the sport. The growth of padel
isn’t to the detriment of anything (notably
tennis) and it’s definitely not the tennis
equivalent of crazy golf (yes, that was
one analogy) or played with over-sized
ping-pong paddles. As for being the
sporting version of Japanese knotweed?
I rest my case.
Padel is its own sport and a massive
positive worldwide that’s bringing people
of all ages into racket sports - and sport.
Some of them may even switch to tennis,
God forbid. It’s creating new careers for
young people, re-invigorating sports
clubs and facilities and bringing in foreign
money. Hats off to all the clubs and padel
facility providers for making this happen.
The padel story is overwhelmingly positive.
It doesn’t need comparing to anything
else and we really must get the message
across that it is not an easy sporting
option and it is not less demanding of the
player. Those ideas need scratching from
the record. It may be easy to start but
building skill, as with any sport, takes time,
effort and patience.
What do you think? Let us know here.
Padel has been included in
the 2023 European Games in
Krakow-Malopolska, from
21 June to 2 July 2023
Game on GameCam!
Want to analyse your shots after a coaching session or
post-match with a beer at the bar? Then start lobbying
your club to install GameCam.
The high-performance sports camera
records and live streams matches in
broadcast quality as well as generating
a slew of match stats via its built-in AI
chip to help players identify strengths
and weaknesses. Or simply tease their
opponents or playing partner about
unforced errors, time spent in the
dead zone and the player who hit the
least shots. You can even heat map
movements around court.
The video analytics and statistics
feature has been developed in
conjunction with professional padel
players and coaches, according to
GameCam CEO Ruud Smits, to ensure
it extracts and delivers the data that
players want.
Starting from €950 including the
wall mount
www.gamecampadel.com
Roland Garros to
host top flight padel
Padel is heading to its second
tennis Grand Slam location
this year with news that Roland
Garros will host a world-class
tournament in July.
Just months after padel was showcased
at the Australian Open (see page 16),
the sport is heading to the Paris Premier
Padel Major on July 11-17th as part of
a multi-year agreement between the
French Tennis Federation (FFT) and
Premier Padel, the big-money rival to
the World Padel Tour.
Premier Padel is managed by the
International Padel Federation (FIP)
supported by the state-backed Qatar
Sports Investments. The Paris event is its
first major padel tournament in Europe.
Gilles Moretton, president of the FFT,
said: “The federation is proud to write
padel history by teaming up with FIP
and Premier Padel. This will propel padel
to a new dimension and boost the
French fervour for the discipline.”
Luigi Carraro, president of FIP, said:
“Padel is growing rapidly in France and
we look forward to showcasing our
sport at its best to new audiences in
this spectacular venue – and to viewers
all over the world.”
Watch Premier Padel tournaments
on Sky.
Growing Padel in the UK
www.ipadel.co.uk
07765 403769
ian@ipadel.co.uk
14 thebandeja.com