Claude Baigts, Director of Sports Region Magazine, President of the Coupe de France padel mixed and European Cup of clubs of padel delivers all his ideas to develop the padel in France. Better than that, he presents us a real development plan for padel in France under the aegis of the French Tennis Federation. Open letter to the FFT ...

The questions of Claude Baigts

  • The first question that we ask ourselves is:
    Does the FFT have a delegation from the ministry for a period of 4 or 8 or 12 years?

Not having this answer at the time of writing the plan, we decided to consider a short term 4 year, medium term 8 year and long term 12 year plan. Each period corresponding to an Olympiad.

Let us remember that in the past the FFT experienced similar conditions with Squash from 1975 to 1980 and badminton from 1944 to 1978.

  • The second question : what is the FFT looking for? For who ? through the development of Padel in France ?

For the uninitiated that we are, we put forward several avenues:

- More licensees. We must then take into account the figures of the Spanish Federation of Padel : 4.000.000 practitioners and 44.000 licensees. We will develop this situation, the padel is a game before it is a sport. Spanish sports practices are different from French practices which are themselves changing. License objective to be fulfilled in the medium term.

- Maintain or even increase practitioners in tennis clubs by offering a new discipline of ball and racket! It is a realistic objective in the short and medium term. We will develop the products to be used in the clubs: equipment directly padel but also equally important peripherals. Location - minimum 3 short courses including 2 covered - club house-restaurant- fitness… ..
We mention the most members in the clubs but not necessarily more spontaneous licensing!

-Give tennis teachers an income supplement by teaching padel, management padel within tennis clubs. Short-term objective through training in "jobs in Padel ". We will develop. The teacher is also the pole leader padel… He organizes the reception, the meeting times, he acts as a manager, he markets the pole outside padel, he sells the license padel FFT and the one corresponding to leisure ...

-  sell Roland Garros licenses Padel to brands that are not in tennis. For several reasons, including inaccessible budgets for Roland Garros tennis licenses.

- To give temporary service to the Ministry who asked us insistently. There we would not understand that the FFT is mobilized unless the ministry has a strong and immediate currency of exchange. We do not accept this last hypothesis even if we would then have a solution for the FFT: The National League - AECP

A little bit of history

Our overall plan is based on our experiences in the development of French tennis in the 80s / 90s and on the development of padel in Argentina 1970s / 1980s and Spain 1990s / 2000s.

In each era, in each case cited above, it should be noted that private investors or associations with delegated management are at the origin of tennis in France. It was the same with the Padel in Argentina and Spain and for 12 years in France. We will develop.

At each time and in each case mentioned above, we must take into account first private investors or associations with delegated management which are the basis of tennis in France. It was the same with the Padel in Argentina, Spain and for 12 years in France.

  • The campaign of 5000 tennis courts initiated by Minister Jean-Pierre Soisson in 1982, under the mandates of President Chatrier and partially President Bîmes, has resulted in the construction of more than 30000 courts in less than 10 years. 15000 are still in operation. The manufacturers' industry was not ready to respond to this demand and the results were quality failures which are still for some courts the responsibility of the clubs (5000). Even more serious, structured clubs, whether run by associations or businesses, have suffered from this all-out competition. In the short and medium term it was a success. For generations of leaders and players past the euphoria, the results are less good.
  • Le padel has experienced in Argentina a similar path the euphoria organized by the firm COCA-COLA and its director Oscar Nicastro who created the Argentine Federation of padel then was president of the FIP. A few very good Argentinian and South American tennis players plus some football and show bizz stars, the capital invested in televisions by the Coca-Cola brand made it possible to launch the padel. Game in this case in the DNA of Argentinian tennis players, Basque pelota, Squash ... Very quickly (10 years) the padel becomes the first sport and game of ball and racket but also is placed just behind football in terms of number of practitioners. The courts of padel are built in concrete by private investors but also by cities. It was not until the 90s to see the first so-called panoramic courts in clubs. The financial crisis will hit Argentina, FAP will be bankrupted and the padel  Argentina will see all of these top players join Spain.
  • It was in 1992 that Spain really woke up to padel  by organizing the first World Championship in Madrid (golf de la Mojalera) on exclusively concrete courts. The finals will be played in Seville as part of the Universal Exhibition on a panoramic court.
    Spain and Argentina will share power within the FIP until 1998, or the FFP, will confirm its candidacy in 1992, to organize the Vth world in Toulouse in 2000.

Two years later, in 2002 Mexico will take over.

The success of padel in Spain comes first from its first audience, rich Spanish average tennis players and / or golf players. This is how the first courts of padel happen to be in golf courses and very large tennis clubs. Private investors will follow to associate with multi-activity clubs, health and leisure, the practice of Padel.

It should also be added that two characters have done more for the notoriety of the padel that the Federation: Prince Philippe of Asturias, current King of Spain and Prime Minister José Maria Aznar; They financed the Spanish selections and a television circuit. Finally, the 90s were the ten glorious years of the Spanish economy thanks in part to European funds.

  • The Argentinian and Spanish models do not resemble, in sports practices, the French model, based largely on public funding of sports facilities.
    The thrill of Padel in France (less than 500 courts) is due to 3 factors:

1 / The pioneers at the end of 89 which regrouped and created the French association of Padel which will absorb the Haute Garonne association of Padel and will see herself in 92 married to the French Federation of Longue Paume by the ministry with an enlarged delegation for the FFP. Daily work with the Ministry, INSEP, UFRSTAPS, federations: Spanish, Argentina and FIP will allow the FFP to create the French pedagogy of teaching padel, the French selections and the creation of short kits of padel of 1992 2003 to.
2 / The Arab Spring
3 / The entry of the FFT into the padel

Our plan Padel

For the short term: 4 years

- How to create a departmental center of padel by department (110) in metropolitan France and overseas? Objective 4 years.

-How to finance these centers without making the FFT carry the investments? But only low running costs.
Each phase will be costed. private clubs labeled as departmental training centers. Off-peak hours for training and others for training and competitions. Benefits for FFT and clubs
250 hours per year from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 14 p.m. to 18 p.m. € 6000 / center or € 600.000 for 100 clubs. In addition, the club is mediated by the label, receives the departmental finals, can make a selection of teachers for its club.
The FFT has no real estate investments or maintenance, and recovers a quota of licenses calculated on the number of members with a 50% discount. If we take 100 clubs that have an average of 800 practitioners, the FFT can expect 400X100 = 40000 licenses. A 10 € license will bring in 400.000 euros per year out of the 600000 euros in rentals. At 15 € the income is 600.000 €, ie the total rental expenses. It will also be possible to generate other revenue ...

- How to train 300 tennis teachers to the professions of padel accelerated to bring the CDP to life? and other structures. We will develop. Bring Gaby Reca to train FFT executives in padel . Bilingual multi world champions and the best teacher of all time, he is already in contact through us with Cedric Carité from Padel Academy.

- How to select tennis clubs who will be able to access FFT aid to build padel. We will provide you with a grid of criteria enabling the FFT to provide medium and long-term guarantees for its investments. We will also present possible investors.
our grid will be based on: The will of the leaders, the motivation of the teachers, the geographical position of the club, the tennis facilities, others, the quality of the club house, spaces dedicated to padel , support for a community or an investor, possibility of covering a minimum of 2 fields, rehabilitation of tennis courts, industrial wasteland, etc. financial capacity of the club, close environment of the club to boost all the services that will be offer to a new clientele ……………

- How to manage competitions : circuits, interclubs, international meetings, exhibitions? Your experiences and ours should enrich the current programs. No money for the senior amateur world …… ..expense for young people ???

- How to train the teams of France and organize the selections starting with the departmental level? Here again, based on what already exists and depending on the decisions taken in the previous points, it will be easy for us to be able to give an orientation. Note that we have already done this successfully. We find Gaby Recca, we offer 4 clubs padel private to welcome the 2 best players and 1 best players twice a quarter over 2 longweekend and 10 indoor courts.
Transfer from Friday evening to Sunday evening. A Gaby deputy taking care of the best junior men and women. the private partner clubs solution allows decentralized training and communication in the regions. The trainings are open to teachers and leaders of tennis clubs and the press. We have selected interesting and motivated profiles to accompany the FFT executives.

- How to actively participate in the promotion of Padel ?
Firstwe will develop the plan to visit each region to lead seminars on padel : for managers of tennis clubs, teachers, elected officials in sports, sports directors, communities. We will involve the DRJSCS, CROS, CDOS but also representatives of padel, investors, media ...
Our experience in this field Hundreds of training days have come to us that we have run in the territories with the FFT and Greenset in the 80s and early 90s, but also from 92 to 2002 with the FFP for the promotion of Padel. For the padel we have funded more than 150 courts with the FFP.
We have very advanced contacts with a European company which will place its premises in each city at our service and bear the costs of speakers and participants.
Without forgetting the XVI editions of Communicasport: National Meetings of Sport and Communities. and the theme padel
Secondly, we join the President of the FFT who wishes to organize the French Open of Padel, here again we have lots of skills to pool. The French Open brand of padel will be part of the basket of the bride and groom that we will bring together to create a circuit in public places whose grand final would be:… ..The greatest players in the world have come and come to the French Open. Our experience of tours in public places is confirmed. On this bridge we can go very quickly and the obstacles are not insurmountable. There is still time for example to make the French Open of Padel 2017 in Toulouse the most beautiful open in France labeled FFT and communicate together. All you have to do is move your inter-regions by one week or dispense with 4 French players. Who can subsequently earn points at the French Open.

How to finance  most of the investments needed to develop our plan over 4-8 and 12 years? It is together that we can answer these questions. Here we can see that the period is complicated to ask the municipalities to make the investment efforts alone. And many tennis clubs are looking for new measures to cope with ever more costly expenses, not to compensate with larger endowments. This is why our plan is based on public / private. Current private investors who are club managers are aware that they must come together and we are helping them in this direction through AECP and LNP. But everyone knows without admitting it, including the FFT, that bad agreements are better than good quarrels! but I believe more in good deals for all parties. We are ready to do it tomorrow.

How to manage quality and safety during the construction of the padel and throughout the life of the equipment? A very elaborate study of Padel Consortium and ALLIANZ will bring significant progress and above all will challenge the hegemony of the all-panoramic court. We affirm that many courts installed in France do not comply with French safety standards, this situation is worrying. Does the FFT bear a responsibility not in its regulations padel but by granting the PQT to companies that do not respect the specifications set out?
We will develop these points as well.

Conclusion

It is with enthusiasm and passion but also with great professionalism that we put ourselves at the service of your commission for an exchange that will undoubtedly be fruitful.

How can we cooperate?
Without prejudging your wishes to go further with us, we can give you some elements
- We want our independence and are not looking for a salary or an honorary position.
- We can perform missions on an Olympiad and work with you while bringing our capital gains including financial.

Claude Baigts

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.

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