Andoni Bardasco: “The passion for padel becomes universal”

Andoni Bardasco from Padel Stuff looks back with us on a busy summer for the academy near Bilbao!

A demand that exceeds expectations

Padel Stuff is a young project, and we learn something new every day. When we made our forecast for the summer of 2023, we were optimistic, but we weren't expecting the demand we had...

It seems that the passion for the padel becomes more and more real, and above all more and more universal! In the last two months alone, we have had requests for internships from five continents, the French and the Dutch being the most frequent. In the end, each culture is different, and that teaches us a lot of things.

At the same time, we have a nice high-level training group who train with us on a regular basis.

Complete internships

Our courses are very comprehensive. We try to obtain as much information as possible about the students beforehand, so that the course is adapted to the needs of each group and, if possible, even to each person in this group. In addition, we offer training in Spanish, English and French, which makes the atmosphere very relaxed for foreign students.

A before and after for the trainees

After their time with us, trainees generally notice that the padel is a very tactical sport, and very precise in terms of technique. It is not essential to be elegant on the track, but there are certain faults which will suppose a great blockage in the continuation of the progression on the track. padel.

The best comment that can be made to us is when we highlight our level of knowledge, and the complete vision that we have when giving the tools for progression and making corrections.

The difference between a coach who manages and can teach us “something”, and a coach who has a long-term vision, is that the second will give us corrections which will make us progress every day for a long time. , while the first will give us some tips but it will remain insufficient. Our interns appreciate our general vision, and we will always have this way of operating.

In France, a padel very fast

Personally, I really like to work on ball control during the rally, while adding tools to the student's game.

Le padel in European countries such as France is a padel different, very fast (sometimes too much) and with a lot of risk taking, and therefore mistakes. This makes it more complicated to work in the form of exchanges because students often have a higher level in attack than in defense.

Thus, it is not always easy to keep the ball in play because students often play too fast and do not give themselves time to find the right position on the court. So we adapt the training and, normally in long training courses, we see a big difference between the last and first days.

The exercises that work best are ultimately those that are done with the basket, with sequences where it is the coach who controls the tempo of the game to help the student.

Bilbao, a city with multiple assets

Bilbao is a very touristic city, very pretty and with a very pleasant climate. Moreover, this summer has been incredible in terms of weather. Most of the trainees took the opportunity to visit the city, the tourist places, go to the beach and the mountains and also enjoy the many excellent restaurants.

In addition, the club in which we welcome them has high-level facilities with impeccable catering service, a pleasant terrace, and high-quality pitches with impressive ceiling heights. Very often, students tell us that they don't have that at home. Moreover, they mostly stayed at noon in the club to have lunch and rest before training in the afternoon.

The best students?

To be honest, the best student I had this summer was a local player. An 18 year old who is preparing for his Spanish championship and who came to complete his daily training with me. The level outside of Spain is rising, but it is true that we still see a little lack of maturity in neighboring countries.

But I also want to highlight the commitment and desire to learn of all the interns who came this summer. For example, we had a student from Singapore who trained individually for 4 hours every day, with impressive discipline for an amateur player.

Xan Tafernaberry

Xan is a fan of padel. But also rugby! And his posts are just as punchy. Physical trainer of several padel, he unearths atypical posts or deals with topical subjects. It also gives you some tips to develop your physique for the padel. Clearly, he imposes his offensive style as on the field of padel !