Well known on the “senior” circuit, Barry Coffey takes advantage of his travels across the European continent as a player to fulfill his other duties. President of Irish Padel Association, he never misses the opportunity to observe by what means he could advance the cause of padel, the sport that gave him a new life during his retirement.

Britain's number one over 45!

I heard about the padel for the first time in the mid-1990s. A player from our local tennis club had gone on vacation to Argentina and returned with pictures of tennis courts. padel saying that this game was going to conquer the world. We thought he was crazy, but he was right. It was almost 20 years later that I found the padel. I was living in the south of France then and I saw a picture of a track padel in the center of Nice.

Determined to learn more about the sport and give it a try, I went online, found courts near me, and booked a lesson. This course has undoubtedly changed my life, I immediately hooked. I continued to take lessons with Kristina Clément and started acting.

Very quickly, I was looking for veteran tournaments to participate in. At this point in 2016 there wasn't much for older players in France, so in 2017 I started traveling to the UK to compete in the new 'British Padel Tower +45 years”. It was a great experience. In March 2018, I became number one in the over 45s. Even if the level was not as high as today, I was proud of this achievement because I was 58 years old.

I continued to play on the UK circuit until December 2019 when a broken ankle, picked up during a tournament in London, sidelined me for three months. By the time I recovered, in March 2020, Covid-19 hit and the world became a very different place. Travel has been heavily restricted and even playing padel in my local club was impossible for several months.

President of Irish Padel Association since 2018

I had been invited to join the board of the Irish Padel Association shortly after its creation in 2016. Remote and virtual meetings were in their infancy, but I managed to keep in touch. In 2018, I was elected president. Despite the fact that I do not live in Ireland, it was thought that due to my constant travel to attend tournaments in other countries, I could be a good ambassador for the padel in Ireland. It can be a lot of work, but since I'm retired, I'm happy to spend as much time as I need working for the association and promoting this great sport!

The 6 Nations… at padel !

In 2017, I organized an international veterans tournament between Ireland and Monaco which took place at the marvelous Padel Eze Club. The success of this meeting made me think that more could be done for older players. Shortly after, I was playing a tournament in Scotland and had the chance to chat with other players from other countries. I suggested that we organize a “four nations” tournament, a bit like what is done in rugby.

Paul Ross, of the land supplier of padel Padel Tech Ltd, overheard the conversations and said, "If you can do this project, Padel Tech will sponsor it up to €1000”. The first event took place in March 2018 at Casa Padel in Paris and the competing nations were England, Ireland, Monaco and Scotland. England won, Ireland came second. It was a big hit and at the end I remember people asking me 'Where are we playing next year?' I hadn't thought there could be a “next year”!

I decided to grow the event and make it what it is today: ” The Six Nations Masters Tournament of Padel ". In 2019, the original four nations returned to Casa Padel where we were joined by teams from France and Switzerland. Once again the event was well received and France totally dominated the event winning all their matches with ease. The tournament has since been held in Sweden and Finland, with the host country winning each time.

One thing we have learned is that to keep the tournament “fresh” we need to invite new countries from time to time and also change the format slightly. The initial age category was that of +45 years. Last year we experimented with the “team +100” format which proved to be very popular and we will use it again this year. The 2023 tournament will take place at PadelBregg, in the Swiss spa town of Baden, near Zurich, on May 27 and 28.

The growth of padel in Ireland

I am sad to say that the padel hasn't grown as quickly in Ireland as it has in other countries, but it is growing and we believe 2023 will see exceptional growth in terms of installs and player numbers.

Two factors have hindered the growth of the sport in Ireland, one of which has been observed and still exists in other countries, namely the existence of two different associations/federations. Myself and the other board members have been working to resolve this issue, but so far without success.

We hope this will change in the very near future as, on the advice of FIP President Luigi Carraro, we have entered into talks with Tennis Ireland in the hope that a merger between us will allow the padel to be officially recognized in Ireland and that growth will follow, as has been the case in Great Britain (LTA), France (FFT), Italy (FIT) etc. Many people say that the merger of the sports of padel and tennis is not a good idea, but for some countries it is the best solution.

The lack of indoor facilities has also hampered the growth of this sport. Ireland is known to be very green and that is simply because our climate is very humid. We all know that playing padel on wet ground is not fun and is not really padel. In the Republic of Ireland, we only have two indoor courts, located at PadelArea-Celbridge, just outside Dublin. The good news is that there are plans to add more tracks to this site, as well as soon to open covered centers in the cities of Galway (in the west) and Cork (in the south) . So far, the work of the Irish Association of padel is to promote the padel in Ireland.

1400 players padel in Ireland

There are no official figures but we estimate that there are around 1.400 people playing the game. padel on a regular basis (more than once a month). This figure is roughly proportional to the number of players in Great Britain considering the number of inhabitants. Unlike other major European countries, we have not yet been able to attract major channels such as InterPadel, PDL or WeArePadel, as it proved very difficult to find suitable buildings at a reasonable rent.

Currently, there are only 20 tracks of padel in Ireland, but about half of them are in private clubs where you have to be a member. There are currently only 10 pitches open to the public on a pay and play basis and 6 of them are outdoors. There are a few new courts under construction and planned that I have not included in these numbers.

Martin Schmuda

A competitive tennis player, Martin discovered the padel in 2015 in Alsace and appeared in a few tournaments in Paris. Today a journalist, he deals with current affairs padel while continuing its rise in the world of the little yellow ball!

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