What if improving at padel wasn't just about technique, physical fitness, and tactics? In Nice, from October 17th to 25th, 2026, La Toupie Bleue will offer a different approach during its padel camps, with work focused on laterality, visuomotor cues, and the "quiet eye." The objective: to better understand how a player perceives information, makes a decision, and transforms that decision into a motor response on the court. 

In addition, research since 2017  La Toupie Bleue  organizes  padel holidays in Europe  with one conviction: a player's progress cannot be reduced to the repetition of shots. Physical condition, tactical mastery, and technique obviously constitute the three traditional pillars of training. But other, much less visible parameters can also come into play.

After taking an interest in  orthoptics applied to padel  from 2023 onwards, then to the role of the foot through thea  pedicure and podiatry  in 2025, La Toupie Bleue hopes to take another step forward at its next meeting in Nice.

Taking care of your feet for playing padel: advice from specialist podiatrists

With  Julien Bondia  and all of its coaches, the organization will incorporate work around two concepts that are still rarely addressed in padel training courses:  Laterality and improved decision-making to optimize motor response .

Laterality: Why can two right-handed players be so different?

It is estimated that approximately  70% of the population has a dominant right eye But this data taken in isolation is not enough to define how a player functions.

Tennis player on a green court beside white French text about Roger Federer, with credits at bottom right.

It is primarily the different combinations that are of interest:  dominant eye and hand holding the racket , but also the  dominant eye and preferred supporting foot .

Two right-handed players with the same dominant eye can therefore develop different motor profiles depending on how these lateralities are articulated.

Tennis offers some particularly striking examples.  Rafael Nadal , dominant right eye and racket held in the left hand, and  Roger Federer , left eye dominant and racket held in the right hand, both present a  crossed laterality .

In padel, better understanding one's own mechanics could help to understand why some movements seem natural while others require more work.

Why a  window exit  Does it seem more fluid on one side? Why is a player perfectly comfortable with a smash when stationary but much less so when he has to perform the same movement while moving?

The answer is not necessarily purely technical. These differences can constitute  areas of understanding the individual functioning of the player , then become levers for work.

The "quiet eye," or how to make better use of visual information

Second focus of the stay: the  visual information intake .

The higher the level of play in padel, the less time there is to choose and execute a shot. Direction, power, control, spin: the decision sometimes has to be made in a fraction of a second.

Indoor sports complex with glass-walled courts and bright pink carpet; foreground shows chairs and a trash bin, overlaid with French text promoting fast reading of the game and the hashtag #LATOUPIEBLEUE.

Some of this time can be saved  even before the strike , thanks to the player's ability to identify and fix the relevant information at the right time.

This is where the concept of  "Quiet eye" , developed in the works of  Joan Vickers It refers to a period of stable visual fixation preceding the execution of a movement and studied particularly in athletes involved in disciplines requiring precision and decision-making.

Applied to padel, this reflection takes on a particular dimension. Between  Proximity to opponents, limited space, changes of trajectory, and use of windows The player must constantly gather information before choosing their answer.

The ability to better read the opponent's movement, the ball's trajectory, or the available spaces can therefore contribute to performance. However,  This visual work rarely remains isolated and is trained as a specific component of progression in padel. .

Individual tests to better understand one's own game

In Nice, the objective will be precisely to move from theory to practice.

Each participant will be able to perform  individual tests focusing on laterality and visuomotor skills A personalized analysis will then be offered, along with action plans that can be directly applied on the track.

Two men on a tennis court with training equipment, blue overlay text about visual-motor cues and the hashtag #LATOUPIBLEUE.

This is obviously not about transforming a  padel camp  in a scientific laboratory, but to provide the player with an additional framework for interpretation.

The idea is simple:  better understand how your own body works in order to better guide your training .

Certain automatic behaviors, recurring difficulties, or playing preferences could then be observed from a different perspective than purely technical analysis.

A padel holiday that doesn't just focus on volume

This approach is part of a broader desire to  La Toupie Bleue  : do not measure the quality of a stay solely by the number of hours spent on the slopes.

Sunset over the Côte d'Azur with a man in a blue shirt running along a seaside promenade; slogan 'The Côte d'Azur awaits you...' appears on the left.

In Nice, each session must serve a specific purpose:

  •  understand his game  ;
  •  identify your strengths  ;
  •  identify its areas of progress  ;
  •  develop one's tactical understanding  ;
  •  improve information gathering .

The main objective is for participants to leave with elements that they can then reuse in their daily practice, with their partner and against their usual opponents.

Three formats offered in Nice from October 17th to 25th

The stay will take place during the  All Saints holidays with three options available depending on player availability and objectives.

Le  Intensive Pack , organized the  17 and 18 October  will offer a short and concentrated format.

Le  Mid-Week Pack ,  21 to 25 October will combine four nights in a 4-star hotel, padel tennis, recovery and discovery of  Nice and the French Riviera .

Finally, the  Weekly Pack ,  19 to 25 October will constitute the most complete formula.

Training sessions will take place indoors at  Galactic Padel including premium carpets used on the circuit  Premier Padel .

The tournament as a revealer

Un  sanctioned tournament organized on October 24th  will also allow us to compare the work done with the reality of competition.

Here again, the organization wants to go beyond the traditional format of a tournament held at the end of a training camp. The coaches will be present.  at the edge of the slopes to observe the participants in a real-life situation to identify their reactions under pressure and provide them with directly actionable advice.

A way to link the work done during the sessions to what actually happens when the score comes into play.

Because behind questions of laterality, vision, or decision-making lies, ultimately, a rather simple idea:  Improving at padel might not just be about hitting the ball better. It's also about better understanding what happens before you hit it. 

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