Roque Roasio tells us about his tournament circuit padel for seniors, theISPT : International Senior Padel Tour.

We had the chance to interview Roque Roasio, founder of the International Padel Senior Tour. A circuit you have certainly heard about, perhaps thanks to the French Philippe Dales and Hervé Martinez, who arrived in the final of the Mallorca tournament, where they lost to the world champions +50 years.

Recently, Roque told us about the need to offer more tournaments for seniors, he now explains the functioning of the circuit he founded.

ISPT: offer international tournaments to seniors

I started from an observation: there is few international events for seniors. The Senior International Padel Tour appeared as a necessity to allow them to participate in international tournaments, to play high level matches, to benefit from an international ranking, and to be able to train for official competitions.

Such a circuit is a motivation for all players from emerging countries in the world of padel who have no other possibility of entering international tournaments, since only a few pairs can participate in the FIP Worlds.

Until then there were a few international tournaments, individual initiatives, but which were not part of a framework, there was no circuit.

The birth of the ISPT

In 2018, during the Senior World Championships, in Estepona, I spoke with several players and all agreed that we needed a circuit that complements the official competitions. So I decided to create the ISPT. At the beginning the idea was to offer a presentation in 2019 with two invitational tournaments. Six countries were to be present, with a total of six pairs per category.

But eventually I found myself organizing a tour of four tournaments international, with 18 qualifying circuits in 18 countries, and 4 invited countries !

It was a crazy job between the search for representatives for the 18 countries that would carry out tournaments to rank the pairs for the international tournaments, the search for clubs and strategic countries to allow the ISPT to be known, the choice dates for each tournament that do not conflict with international or local tournaments.

In short, it was madness, my phone kept ringing, I had calls at dawn, it was too much for one man!

4 tournaments, with many participants

All this is the result of a great personal effort, without the help of sponsors. In this project, I communicated with over 1 people. In the end, we were able to achieve four stages : La Playa (Rijswick, Netherlands), then Arenal (Mechelen, Belgium), Pins (Mallorca, Spain), and finally Vilamoura Academy (Algarve, Portugal).

Finally, I had to change the initial format a bit: in some countries it was very complicated to perform qualifying phases. It was therefore decided that for two years we would do Open tournaments, in which any pair could enter, except those of some countries where it is possible to hold qualifying tournaments: Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Sweden, where the ranking system is maintained.

In these Open tournaments, compete between 120 and 144 pairs in 5 categories. The competition works as follows: first pools, with 3 pairs in each, and the first from each pool enters the main draw. This way each pair plays at least 2 games.

ISPT's values

ISPT is based on three pillars :

  • Competition : we are all competitors and we enjoy competing against people our age from other countries
  • Tourism : we are at a stage in our life where we like to visit new countries, discover other realities
  • Post game : It's a pleasure after a game to enjoy the spirit of camaraderie characteristic of padel. At our age, we enjoy having a small beer or a good glass of wine while getting to know people from other cultures.

ISPT and Federations

The ISPT is a private circuit, it does not depend on any federation. This does not mean, however, that Associations or Federations from other countries cannot send players. In some countries, qualifying tournaments using the official national ranking have taken place, to determine which pairs to send.

I was in contact with several federations to try to avoid duplicates. I also spoke with the FIP, in order to try to ensure that in the future, no incompatibilities appear, but all these conversations have been informal.

The idea is to add hardships, not to conflict. The main thing is to respect the official competitions, and that once the official and private calendars are in place, to avoid changes as much as possible.

But we cannot deny that for the federations, it is very complicated to organize something like the ISPT. So why not call each other and try to go all in the same direction? Everyone has my number, besides it appears on all the pages of the ISPT, you can call me 24 hours a day, so I hope that if the ISPT bothers someone, he will take the time to contact me!

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 !

On the same subject