During this big P1000 tournament at the Lesigny club, we interviewed Michel Papin, Mayor of Lesigny, on the development of padel and this project to expand the offer padel.

Complicated beginnings

Quite honestly, I didn't know the padel at the time. What appealed to me about this team's approach was that it offered to self-finance the infrastructure, with the town hall providing the land and all associated services.

The beginnings were complicated, the start-up was laborious. But over the past 2 years, we have seen a real explosion of interest in this sport. Across the commune, we have more than 2000 members in different sports, which, out of 7500 inhabitants, is a fairly exceptional proportion.

Padel and Tennis at 50/50

The mayors who preceded me have always highlighted sport. During my mandate, I was particularly involved in the field of padel. At the Lesigny club, we currently have 500 members, with an equal distribution between tennis and padel. This shows the enormous progress of padel since the post-COVID period.

COVID boosted the padel

There was great concern within sports associations after COVID. They feared that people would not come back. But fortunately, the figures reassured us. Many tennis players, for example, have taken up padel during confinement, because this sport was authorized in semi-indoor structures, while other team or indoor sports were stopped.

New trails in Lesigny

Our site covers nearly ten hectares, and we have the land resources to add more trails. padel if the demand is there. We are even considering setting up a central court. It is very likely that other areas of padel will emerge in the next two years.

School and padel : a good idea

At the moment, we do not have dedicated funding. However, I think that the padel would be a great addition to school programs. This worked very well for golf. The golf initiations were a success, attracting not only the children, but also their parents.

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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