Claude Baigts: "A succession of missed appointments"

Claude Baigts saw the padel develop since 1990 under his eyes. Both player and actor, he returns to theEuropean association of clubs Padel private, but also gives us his feeling on the development of our sport.

The EACP, an incredible adventure

I accidentally returned to the padel after 15 years of withdrawal. The French Open of padel in Toulouse has once again become, at the request of the mayor of Toulouse, one of the biggest events of padel amateur in the world in a public place: the Place du Capitole.

My return is explained as follows.

It is difficult to refuse the Mayor of Toulouse to relaunch a French Open on the most beautiful Place which offers all the conditions for success: surface area, setting, captive public (50 passages per day), 000-star hotel opposite the Place, parking , all energy flows ...

The meeting with Kevin and Alain Tournemire who had just completed the construction of Toulouse Padel Club presenting to date 14 indoor courts and many activities has been decisive; if private investors in Toulouse embarked on such projects, it is because the padel had a future.

The EACP, American style

We decided to work on an American model. It is not a championship. It is a European Cup of Clubs by invitation without sporting climbs or descents.

The objective is to allow clubs, coaches, to meet, exchange and create an economy in the padel. And it works: we see that there are many exchanges between our members. Clubs have been able to find sponsors thanks to the association.

In Malaga, next October, we are bringing together 24 clubs including 3 African clubs (Morocco 2, Senegal 1).

We hope that next year, we will be able to welcome the Moroccan, Tunisian and Egyptian clubs present in 2019 who wanted to join us.

A common cause

In 1992, France, Italy and Austria joined the FIP. I then asked for a meeting to try to get a vote, by a federation. Then I fought to allow the serve-fly. The President of the FIP agreed with me as he represented the Argentinian players who were against it. But it was a fair decision as it benefited all new players who came to tennis.

In 2000, the world championship was held in Toulouse. Here too, we had to convince. But we were followed to obtain this 5th edition which was therefore carried out for the first time outside Spain and Argentina. This will allow Mexico in 2002 to organize the 6th edition of the World Cup.

I regret that the development plan of Padel in France, which was asked of me in 2017, did not immediately receive a favorable response and it took 2 years to see recommendations put in place: circuit in public places, Association of private clubs, opening up to the organizers of tournaments and protection of private clubs.

Spain, a sacred model!

The development of padel in Spain but also in Italy, Sweden and more generally in the world is based on 2 elements: private investors and media coverage.

In Spain, private clubs and their investments without subsidies represent more than 50% of the achievements

And with the sponsorship of the future King of Spain at the 1992 World, we had 2 live TV channels. This allowed the Federation to create a circuit: the Beefeater Circuit padel.

At the 3^nd 1996 World Cup in Madrid, Mr. Jose Maria Aznar, President of the Spanish Council, player of padel, allowed the Spanish Federation to have access to all media for months leading up to the competition. A budget had been put in place to create the club padel Spain to support 10 players and 10 players to support private investors in club building through sporting results. The sports results lived up to expectations and in the following months the demand in the clubs was multiplied by 5.

A succession of missed appointments

Le padel has not developed as it should, because there is a succession of errors and a lack of knowledge of the padel since its launch in the 70s.

The FIP unfortunately has no financial means since its creation. It should have at least ten employees. There are working groups by continent which have been set up recently, and this is already a very good thing.

We can thank Luigi Carraro. But it's volunteering. Decisions are not made. The machine is difficult to set up, It is in 2020, the weak point of all the federations. As long as it remains as it is, it will be difficult to really develop the padel in a sustainable way.

So why these wars between federations between them and the organizers of competitions between them? Let us line up behind the most representative structure at the world level: the FIP.

Let everyone bring their skills, we are doing it with AECP and FIP. We opened the door to FEPA under certain conditions.

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovers the padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since padel is part of his life. You often see him touring France going to cover the major events of padel French.