Padel Magazine was able to interview Gilles Moretton, President of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes league, and future candidate for the elections to the presidency of the FFT.

Padel Magazine : The plan padel ?

Gilles Moreton : I believe that there are things that are put in place by the Federation, first of all we must recognize that it is a good initiative to have integrated the padel in the FFT. If we look at what has been done in Spain, we can already be satisfied with one thing, and then on behalf of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes (ARA) league, to say that we have taken the development of the padel, but even more than that since today we were asked mainly to help financially such or such event.

We have good sports results and what concerns me about the ARA league is the development at the base in the clubs: we have 31 clubs that are equipped, we unfortunately have a natural reflex which is to say we will welcome the tennis players who are a little disappointed and we are fortunate to have some private structures, which, them, really made the step to go to seek a new public.

I believe a lot in a new audience, I believe a lot in this activity, I think that there will be a lot of licensees in the years to come. On the other hand, it requires our clubs to make an effort that they were not used to making for tennis, that is to say to seek new customers, both directed towards businesses, but also, in my opinion, directed towards licensed athletes in other disciplines. It is a sport which is fun, which is very pleasant, which is played at 4, which is convivial, and we have a lot of sportsmen licensed in football, athletics, basketball, who may have as a second sport the padel. And we have to go find them, make them offers, do discovery days, so that almost requires education for our clubs, and I believe in it a lot.

PM: Private and municipal clubs?

GM: It is a very delicate subject but I will try to answer it sincerely. First there is a logic for private clubs which is an economic logic, and it was necessary for them to go not only to seek new customers, new practitioners, and not only to content themselves with welcoming the population of tennis which wishes to evolve slightly.

In the aid which is brought, it is true that it sometimes seems delicate that the financing even of the communities go towards private clubs, I believe that there are a certain number which took risks, and with success I would tend to say, therefore that also means perhaps that the economic model, and the same marketing model is much more adapted today to the problematic of our days. We have in front of us, not practitioners, but clients, who expect a service, a service.

In any case, that's what we set up in the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes league: we are going to help all the clubs financially, but I wanted to help the clubs from the base, that is to say say putting in place both training and open days, we will help with communication since we will try to relay the open days once every two months. I know that these clubs do it naturally, sometimes our tennis clubs which have built one or two padel don't do it systematically. We need to educate the clubs to develop this activity which in my opinion needs it.

PM: Looking for other profiles?

GM: We must start from the principle that the existing clubs are lucky to have a natural population who are tennis players, among them the disappointed, those who want to discover another activity or racquet sports, and then we have the chance to to be able to discover a new population which will seek an immediate pleasure that tennis has difficulty in rendering. Tennis is more complicated, more technical, while the padel is an activity that can generate almost immediate satisfaction among practitioners, in family, together, in group, we can see it well when we are at the edge of a field and we have children having fun. There are shouts, games, lots of things that are triggered naturally that we may see a little less on the tennis courts so that effectively requires training our tennis clubs, which have difficulty in carrying out this process. We used to have incoming calls in tennis clubs, it's a little complicated now even for tennis, and I would say that it's a modern approach that our clubs are going to have to have in the world. 'to come up.

PM: Differences Moretton 2017 and Moretton 2021?

GM: I was taken like all in a very dense professional activity, despite everything in this period I was both a volunteer on the FFT's Steering Committee, in my league in Lyonnais at the time. Now it turns out that I have my past behind me, I have a lot of time, I still want to give back to tennis what it has brought me all my life, as a former player, as as a tennis teacher, as a business manager for years. And now I want to give back, I necessarily have with an eye like mine, the eye of a president of a very big league like the ARA, I have an opinion and I don't want to remain without say nothing in my corner, and for that we had to be a candidate. They came to get me, there were a lot of people, my league was also an interesting experimental territory to do different things. Now I want to help my federation, help my sport with this new eye that is mine. I have not been in the federal system for 30 years, to turn, to change, to evolve, I am here brand new with a lot of experience, and I want to give to my federation: this is the reason for which I am a candidate.

PM: Ten'Up and Proshop FFT: tools that compete with a section of the tennis economy?

GM: I am actually president of a big league, I am unfortunately not a member of the Comex and of the decisions that are made, I am even distant since I do not even receive the minutes of these meetings, therefore in the same way as others presidents of important leagues, we are a little excluded, it is also a bit my fight: to put back a little debate and democracy.

This idea was proposed, it is a competition actually, which exists now, and there are a lot of decisions that have been made on other subjects, which have been made in a relatively small committee, with debates, the major decisions are taken at the General Assembly, by a general vote. The implementation of subjects such as license reform or others are decided collegially.

PM: Proshop FFT, the Amazon of snowshoeing?

GM: This is indeed a delicate question, for my part I am not in favor, I make it clear, there is no ambiguity on this. I think that the federation does not need this financial windfall to provide a service to licensees, it could provide them with other services such as free television broadcasts at the time of Roland Garros.

You are talking about Amazon, evening matches, including quarter-finals for boys and girls, will be broadcast on Amazon (note: Prime). I would have preferred it to be free to go see tennis (since we will have the day with France Télévisions and the evening with Amazon), rather than this type of service. I think we must be satisfied even if we can do much better when we look at our friends other tournaments of the Grand Chelem.

Beyond that, I find it a shame, and to position itself as a competitor (competitor compared to clubs, other platforms and sites of resales of tennis products) was not the primary mission of the federation.

Xan is a fan of padel. But also rugby! And his posts are just as punchy. Physical trainer of several padel, he unearths atypical posts or deals with topical subjects. It also gives you some tips to develop your physique for the padel. Clearly, he imposes his offensive style as on the field of padel !

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