Florent Dousset, President of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tennis League, evokes for Padel Magazine the development of our practice within his region.

Padel Magazine : Where is the development of the padel in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region?

Florent Dousset: In terms of equipment, we now have 130 tracks of padel, including around forty covered. These tracks are spread over approximately 50 practice sites, representing approximately 40 clubs. Today we estimate the number of practitioners between 15000 and 18000 approximately in the region.

Growth is significant as everywhere in France. Around forty teachers are currently trained in the teaching of padel. Regional competitions are developing: championships in pairs, teams or categories (under 18, seniors).

From the point of view of sports monitoring, gatherings / youth detections are being set up in order to advance our current hopes (for the constitution of teams representing the league at youth championships). In mid-May, three young people from the League were invited by the Mission Padel FFT in Perpignan, on the sidelines of the P2000, for an FFT gathering of young U14s.

PM: What policy has been put in place to develop the practice? 

FD: Our development policy is part of our Regional Development Plan, which is the regional version of the FFT's National Development Plan. Several axes are planned with objectives for the end of 2024: to double the number of padel to reach 300 (including 100 covered), reach 100 practice sites (including 90 clubs), 30 practitioners of Padel, 100 teachers trained.

To give ourselves every chance of achieving these ambitious objectives, we made the strong decision to recruit a project manager padel, in this case Guillaume Bourgeois, with a transversal position on all activities padel in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of the League.

  • On development: strengthen local exchanges with local authorities, prioritize the padel on the ADCP (Aid for the development of clubs and practice), ensure the consistency of the associative project of the clubs, develop a coherent territorial network
  • On training: organize and coordinate training actions, particularly for teachers with the deployment of the TFP (Professional Purpose Title) and the DFMP (Federal Diploma of Padel)
  • On athletes and competition: develop competition in the territories, create U18 and +45 pair championships, promote the development of team competitions padel, deploy a real sports policy in conjunction with the technical teams (scouting, training, monitoring, competitions, etc.)
  • On marketing and communication: organize an event in the departments: ARA Padel Tour (June/July/September 2022, renewed in 2023), develop communication around invested clubs.

PM: How did you discover the padel ?

FD: In Spain, during my holidays a few years ago when the slopes were still rare in France.

PM: What is the history between the region and the padel ? Can you tell us a bit more?

FD: A few clubs got into the business very early on, through individual initiatives. Private structures, in particular in the Lyon conurbation, have also seized the opportunity to develop activities.

Our clubs affiliated with the FFT are now gradually being structured, with beautiful facilities and beautiful projects, in a logic of diversification of practices, to attract new audiences or offer new products to regular tennis players.

13 players and 13 players in the Top 100!

PM: What will be the possible future major tournaments?

FD: In 2022, more than 500 tournaments have been approved: 389 men, 93 women, 55 mixed. Among them, seven P1000s: 4 gentlemen and 3 ladies.

PM: How many players are ranked and who are the best in your region?

Among men, there are 3148 ranked as of October 14, 2022, of which thirteen belong to the French top 100:

1TISONBenjaminALL IN PADEL DECINES
4BERGERONJohanDARDILLY CHAMPAGNE (TENNIS CLUB)
5ZAPATA PIZZAROTeodoro VictorALL IN PADEL DECINES
10BASINSIMONALL IN PADEL DECINES
20AUTHIERFrancoisESPRIT PADEL CLUB
20LOPESJustinESPRIT PADEL CLUB
45MorillonPierre EtienneALL IN PADEL DECINES
55VINCENTPierreMICHON SAINT ETIENNE (TENNIS CLUB OF)
60DUTOURAlexisGANNAT (TENNIS CLUB)
62COURINNathanALL IN PADEL DECINES
85CHAUVETBenoîtPADEL SHOT ST ETIENNE
94MARLOTJustinPADEL SHOT ST ETIENNE
98POTRONYohannALL IN PADEL DECINES

Among the women, there are 530 ranked as of October 14, 2022, including thirteen members of the top 100:

1COLLOMBONAlixESPRIT PADEL CLUB
8POTHERLucileMONTMELIAN TC
24GINIER BARBIERJessicaLYON (TENNIS CLUB DE)
30BAHURELLouisePRINGY TC
33MARTINETCamilleALL IN PADEL DECINES
36RIVIEREaniseGENAS (TENNIS CLUB OF)
38EDGEAlisonALL IN PADEL DECINES
58LAGASSESharleneCHAMBERY TC
61VICHIERLuciaGENAS (TENNIS CLUB OF)
80DubreuilChristelleCHAMBERY TC
85RONDOTMarieMONTMELIAN TC
89SANTAISMathildeMONTMELIAN TC
96REPITONEDelphineCHAMBERY TC

PM: What are the future event projects?

FD: The major event project will be the ARA Padel Round. The purpose of this meeting will be to organize a promotional event for padel in the region in order to meet clubs and communities. In addition, we will promote the practice with decision-makers, by bringing together clubs, practitioners and communities during a day structured around the padel with demonstrations and presentations.

The general organization will be managed by the League, and the organization of the stages coordinated by the League, the departmental committee concerned and the host club. Fifteen dates have taken place or are planned from June 2022 to June 2023.

ARA-PADEL-ROUND

PM: What training is planned in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region?

FD: Overall to date, around forty teachers have been trained by the ARA League in the teaching of padel. The objectives of the training are: to understand the specificities of padel, teach the necessary elements of padel, from initiation to improvement, develop the practice within the structure.

Over the past season, several sessions have taken place: concerning professional DEJEPS/DESJEPS teachers who have followed the UC1/UC2 blocks, over 14 hours (2 days) over 3 sessions to choose from: 12 trainees each time, enabling them to obtain the DFMP (Federal diploma of monitor of padel). And for the full DFMP: 6 days – 40 hours – 17 trainees.

From this month of September we launched the TFP, which has 240 hours. TFP padel is a diploma from padel professionalizing for players 100% padel which do not necessarily come from tennis. Obtaining this title for professional purposes (TFP) allows you to teach padel legally for remuneration. This title is issued in the name of the State and is registered in the directory of professional certifications (RNCP). For the 2022 – 2023 season, 10 trainees are registered.

Tennis State graduates can obtain this TFP via a simplified module (Federal Diploma of Tennis Instructor padel “DFMP”).

Sebastien Carrasco

Future naturopath and passionate about padel, Seb is the health/food gentleman of Padel Magazine. He juggles between pala, quinoa and essential oils. For almost two years now he has been dealing with the news of the little yellow ball with the same passion.

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