In general, why do we choose to do a padel course? The answer is simple: to progress as much as possible in a minimum of time. To do this, we will dedicate a few days to practicing our favorite sport, in the hope of coming back better. Some even go as far as going to Spain to benefit from the best coaches.

To achieve this goal of rapid progress, you need to ask yourself a few questions:

  • What is the daily playing time?
  • How long should the internship last?
  • What is the internship format? (lessons, lessons & supervised matches, lessons and free play, etc.)
  • And of course, which teacher to choose? For this we answer in detail here.

Thibaut and Floriana from Topadel give us their opinion on the questions you are asking.

Recommended daily playing time to progress

“When we go on a padel training course, we play more than usual and sometimes, let's remember, even more than a professional player.

Professional players generally do not train more than 2 hours a day on the track in high season. But they devote part of their day to physical work only, which many amateurs neglect.

For an amateur player, as motivated as he is, playing more than 4 hours a day will not be useful for 2 reasons:

  • Overtraining:

Physically, you will clearly be overtrained too quickly and your body will no longer be able to follow you the following days.

  • Attention drops:

On the other hand, Topadel.fr, the site that works with more than 50 professional coaches, particularly on the pro circuit in Spain, reminds us of some fundamentals: "According to the players, from 1h to 1h30 individually and 1h30 to 2h in a group, attention, concentration and therefore the ability to learn decrease. In particular, when fatigue is combined with this. The information collected begins to be numerous and suddenly the player will only retain part of the elements if we push the duration of the sessions too much."

Therefore, it is necessary to understand that physical rest but also the digestion of the information transmitted are also 2 key points of any good training course. "This is the reason why we recommend to our clients to multiply the sessions rather than their number of hours of play at all costs. Of course it requires having a little more time on site, but it will be more prolific and with less potential risk of injuries!" confides Floriana, project manager in charge of training courses at Topadel.

  • The best formula according to Topadel:

She will therefore recommend that you play twice a day if you want to progress quickly. With classes that will go from 2h to 1h maximum, depending on whether you come individually, in a group but also depending on your age or your physical condition. Not to mention the time of year and the place of your internship! Because going to Lille in winter or to Seville in the middle of summer, we will certainly not offer you the same program!”

Jorge Valencia topadel
Angel Barcelona topadel
Javi 1 Sevilla topadel
Javi 2 Sevilla topadel

The number of sessions and the duration of the ideal padel course

“On these subjects, opinions differ a little more depending on the speakers and their philosophy.

  • 3 sessions / 3 days

At Topadel, they will always recommend a minimum of 3 sessions and 3 days of training. "So, you can come the day before to practice and review the basic shots or get back into the swing of things, especially if you haven't had the chance to play in the days before.

The 2nd day will be dedicated to more specific work and this is where you will start to learn new techniques or new tactics.

The 3rd day will be more devoted to the application in situations of matches and controlled games. In our opinion, this formula is the most suitable for the majority of players to allow them to progress and better assimilate their new skills,” says Floriana.

  • No need to do a week of internship

On the other hand, it is not necessary to do a one-week internship with 6 days of internship, for the same reasons as those mentioned above. The player will be overloaded with information and will not know what to work on at the end of the stage.

3 or 4 days of training will be more productive and will allow the player to better digest the information. The goal is not to multiply the stages, but to choose them well and space them out in order to give the player time to assimilate the information.

There is no magic recipe, each player is different. However, following these few tips will allow you to optimize your training time and therefore your progress.”

The interest of matches during a padel training course

“Participation in matches during a padel camp is a topic of interest for many players. Organizations offer matches every day in their programs. Why?

The first benefit, of course, is the opportunity to play against new players. This promotes learning and develops your gaming culture, more than constantly playing against the same opponents.

However, you have to be careful not to think that the matches necessarily lead to progress: they can also reinforce your weaknesses if the coach does not correct you live.

From an economic point of view, if the organizations offer these matches, it is to make you have a good time, but it is also less expensive to organize them than to constantly assign you a coach. You are therefore often sold a pack of hours of play rather than hours of progress. It is therefore important to ensure that you always choose a supervised camp, and why not your matches with the assistance of the coach on the sidelines to identify your tactical errors. This could be beneficial, so find out if this is planned!”

  • Classes in the morning and games in the afternoon? Interesting ?

Thibault de Topadel has a clear answer: “We only have the players with us for a few days to help them progress. If the main objective is to develop the player’s level, then the time spent in matches risks exhausting him physically. We seek to get the player to break his match reflexes to integrate what he will have learned with the coach.

So, apart from a match supervised by a coach so that he can observe the tactical choices of the intern, matches in the middle of the internship are often a source of frustration because you are not yet ready to put in place what has been seen in course. You quickly fall back into your old reflexes because you have to score points.

  • Matches rather at the end of the internships?

“At Topadel, if a match takes place, it will rather be positioned at the end of the training course, with the objective of observing tactical choices. Ideally, we often leave one or two sessions behind to rework what has not yet been assimilated on a technical level or to do corrective exercises for tactical problems that the match will have revealed.

In addition, waiting a few days allows us to gauge the trainee's level of play and find him opponents who offer a real challenge.

We are not magicians and I am always wary of courses where we gather people from everywhere, who evaluate themselves, who we have never seen play and who will meet to play together since the first day ! These matches are sometimes of no interest for players who are too weak or too strong, and yet you often pay more than if you went to the club next to you with people of your level.

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