Philippe Belou, President of the tennis league and padel from Occitania – Pyrenees – Mediterranean, takes stock with us of the development of the padel in his league, in terms of infrastructure, competition and training.

 ■ The development of padel in Occitania.-  “Development is very different depending on the departments, but it is exponential in Haute-Garonne, Hérault and Pyrénées-Orientales. 86 clubs have tracks and 27 of them are clubs exclusively for padel. There are also two federal structures: the Balma league center and the Hautes-Pyrénées departmental committee in Horgues. In these places, it went much faster than in rural and mountainous areas, both as a result of the favorable climate and the proximity to Spain. I did not expect to see this sport take on such importance in our league. The Covid effect has been beneficial, especially for regions where you could practice padel outdoors. »

“Mastering Development”

■ The actions of development.-  “The sporting aspect is managed by the Commission padel chaired by Eric Largeron, in particular through departmental initiatives such as the organization of youth circuits, team championships as well as padel-company for the 2022/23 season. We want to support the development of padel trying to control it. We don't want to put padel to put on padel. There is a logic to developing real centers of padel and not an isolated track here or there. We want there to be a project around with initiations padel, a life quite simply around these courts. And above all not to fall back into the trap of tennis in the 80s.

■ Future major tournaments.-  Occitania should host a whole series of high-level tournaments this season, including the World Padel Tour, the FIPs in Canet and Perpignan, two P2000 tournaments in Mas and 4Padel de Colomiers, but also the French youth interleague championships, the French championship in pairs, the national team championship 1...

“Today there is a shortage of teachers”

“The WPT a priori, it is recorded, believes Philippe Belou. Same for the FIP Rise from Canet and the FIP Gold from Perpignan. So we are very proud to host the biggest international events of padel in France. On the national part, we had many French competitions. But this is explained by the very qualitative existing infrastructures. I think that in the future, other leagues will have clubs that can host these types of events. »

Philippe Belou blue jacket during the prize giving of the last French championships surrounded by Eric Largeron Benjamin Tison Johan Bergeron and Arnaud Di Pasquale

■ The regional elite.-  The best players from Occitanie are the French champions Bastien Blanqué and Thomas Leygue, as well as Léa Godallier, Élodie Invernon, Charlotte Soubrié...

■ Training.- “In terms of teacher training, we are the first league in France to have set up the Title for professional purposes (TFP) and Federal diploma of instructors of padel (DFMP). This will make it possible to offer more teachers of padel to clubs and an education and support structure to develop the clubs. Because, today, there is a shortage of teachers. »

■ Future projects padel.- In Faith, the construction of a project for a departmental center of padel with two semi-indoor pitches has already started. In Nîmes, a center project with three to five tracks padel outdoor is in the process of technical finalization.

■ The equipment aids.- The federal aid ADCP (Aid for the development of clubs and practice) makes it possible to co-finance the creation of tracks. Only the affiliated clubs are helped financially by this aid.

■ Strengths and weaknesses.- “The strengths of this sport are its attractiveness, the fact that it can be practiced by everyone and the conviviality it offers. The main weakness we will face is the aging of our league structures in a few years. »

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