Kévin Tournemire: “We are benefiting from the growth of this incredible sport!”

Last weekend, the best teams in France faced each other in Toulouse Padel Club on the occasion of National Interclubs 1 2023. This major event obviously made Kévin Tournemire, owner of the host club, proud. For Padel Magazine, he returned to the history of its structure, its future plans, but also to his unconditional love of the pala.

Fell in love with this sport

I discovered the padel thanks to my Spanish family and my cousins in the Canary Islands. I always saw them play without ever being interested in it, but there was a second stage. I am originally from Perpignan and I notably played at Padel du Mas, which installed land from 2012-2013. I left tennis overnight for padel, I fell madly in love with this sport. I changed rackets!

whitewashed tourmire toulouse padel club

The TPC, precursors

We launched in October 2015 with 7 sites, which already made us one of the largest structures in France. It was confidential, the wave had not yet arrived, we were really the precursors. We had the Spanish community who came to play, some tennis players who were starting to rock. The big boom finally arrived in 2019. Between 2015 and 2018, it was a battle: we had to clear, communicate and make known the padel. Today, people see the slopes filling up by themselves, but it was much more complicated before! I have spent my life on the court introducing beginners to it, and that's what makes success all the more beautiful. That's wonderful.

A father-son association

We are two partners: my father as president, and me as general manager. He has the vision a little more “at the top”, with the figures, while I take care of the daily management of the club. It's often said that business partnerships are harder than a marriage, but it's going very well. He is rather based in Perpignan and comes down from time to time during events, as is the case this weekend. I am very happy to do this adventure with my father!

“We welcomed people into algécos”

When I started, the clubhouse wasn't even finished. We welcomed people into algecos, we lent balls and rackets, it was truly a discovery. Currently, we have people from morning to evening (10 a.m. – 23 p.m.). The path traveled is beautiful, but it was not written! We are delighted to have participated, like all the other clubs, in the development of the padel, and we also benefit from the growth of this incredible sport.

The maximum surface area reached at TPC…

Today, the problem of opening another club requires recreating an entire infrastructure, a clubhouse, changing rooms... If we could have continued to grow on site, we would have done so, but unfortunately, we have reached the maximum of the surface. We are thinking about the different options around us, but not anywhere other than Toulouse.

Upcoming projects for Toulouse Padel Club?

It’s crazy, it’s the first year I’m going: nothing! We have done so much. We started with the grounds of padel before adding squash, a health center (with chiropractors) and a gym (with electrostimulation and pressotherapy). We also opened our restaurant this year, because there was no catering until now. I think I'm out of ideas! We are reaching maturity, we must now succeed in making this machine run. We position ourselves more in management than in creation, so that our players are always as satisfied to come here.

Auxence Cams

It was through his father that Auxence discovered the padel, six years earlier. Today, he follows the international circuit with passion and teases the pala in his training club, Toulouse Padel Club. You can also find it on La Feuille de Match and LesViolets.com, two specialized media on Toulouse FC.