Focus on Johan Heros (24 years old) who today lives and coaches in Spain and prepares to play his very first FIP ​​tournament !

His story with padel

“I started playing tennis at the age of 4 and about five years ago I gradually moved towards padel. This transition began about 5 years ago, when I discovered padel thanks to the opening of a club near my home. Initially, I played occasionally, but it became more serious four years ago. Little by little, I abandoned tennis in favor of padel. For the past two years, I have been teaching padel, and last year, I obtained my padel teaching diploma (TFP) within the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes League. Currently, I have been living in Valencia, Spain for six months, where I divide my time between two activities: giving lessons in a club and training in an academy, that of Jorge Bellmont. In addition, as part of my training project, I am looking for sponsors or partners who would like to partner with me.”

The positives and negatives of Spain

“The big positive point is the weather. Then there is also the fact that there are a lot of tracks, a lot of people playing: it's another world. I currently train at the Family Sport Center, which is about to become the largest indoor padel club in the world.

Everything is going really well, the people are super welcoming, I'm learning a lot. My main goal in coming here was to gain experience as a coach, while continuing to develop as a player, but I don't really have any pretensions as a player.

The negative point is that friends and family are missing a bit, that's really the only weak point. In terms of padel, the experience is exceptional. I have the opportunity to learn a different style of play than the one practiced in France, it's interesting to make a comparison between the two countries.”

The differences between France and Spain

“For me there are quite a few differences. Currently, I am working on establishing a comparison between the Spanish and French style of play to make my stay here enriching by identifying these differences. For me, the major things are that in France, we want to go to the net very quickly. Control is from the net, whereas in Spain, the game is controlled a lot from behind. The Spaniards excel in defense, know how to slow down the game and use variation in pace as the main tactic to destabilize their opponents, an approach less common in France.”

His next tournaments

As I said, I don't have a lot of pretensions as a player. However, I would like to move up a little because today, to be a credible coach, if you have a ranking it's better. I abandoned the circuit in France a little there, so I'm doing a few tournaments in Spain. I'm going to do my first FIP ​​tournament this week and then I'm going to try to do a few tournaments this summer, since I'll be in France. I'm going back home to Clermont-Ferrand next week, so I'm going to try to take advantage of it to do one or two tournaments as well.” 

Johan Hero

His opinion on the N1 Interclubs

“If I had to have an opinion on it, I find it a shame that there are so many Spaniards playing. What's a shame is that it's starting to look more and more like tennis even though it's a new sport. Above all, the point of team matches is that you play for your club, and I find it a shame that certain players are deprived of that because there are Spanish players.

Afterwards, in terms of level of play, the contribution of foreign players enriches the level of competition. The clashes with them offer matches of exceptional quality and intensity. I'm a little divided in the end. Even if it is not possible to do otherwise because it remains the European Union, I think that establishing a minimum quota of matches to be played in France would seem to me a more balanced approach.

To meditate so!

Dorian Massy

New padel fan, I am fascinated by this dynamic sport that combines strategy and agility. I find in padel a new passion to explore and share with you on Padel Magazine.

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