In Tahiti, the padel also makes itself known. And at AS Phenix, we understood it well. Its president, Alain Siu, former president of the Polynesian tennis league, has become an unconditional fan of this sport, to the point of wanting to increase the number of tracks in his club to five from the start of the school year in September 2023!

The largest island in French Polynesia, Tahiti, is swapping its paddle boards for palas de padel !

“Two years ago, tells us Alain Siu, I invested in two tracks of padel. It took little by little, and we managed to create a real community padel. But it must be admitted, for a year, the padel is mutating to become a sport in its own right. »

“We hope to welcome Léa Godallier soon”

“In Tahiti, when we talk about paddle, we tend to talk about one of the king sports in Polynesia. And it is necessarily linked to the sea. But we can see that mentalities are changing. With the democratization of padel, the many media that talk about it, the fact of seeing padel on television, the fact of seeing that it touches all the continents, it popularizes this sport enormously. »

Alain Siu Tahiti padel ace phoenix

“Cédric Azzoni di Marzio, former Polynesian tennis champion, now based at Dirai Tennis in Geneva, was very important in our development in the padel. It is thanks to him that we were able to receive players from padel last December. We were able to have Yohann Potron, coach of padel and tennis, member of the senior French team + padel, Jean-Thomas Peyroux, trainer and former member of the French national team padel, and Mélissa Martin, coach of padel and French n°8. »

“For two weeks, we had exhibition matches, clinics, internships, training and many discussions on the development of our club. Small disappointment necessarily because we hoped to have Léa Godallier who could not come. We hope to have it for the inauguration of the three additional pitches! And we could even be lucky enough to have Jérémy Scatena here in Tahiti. It is he who will manage these three new tracks of padel (Ed. 100%padel). And suddenly, we will be able to benefit from his experience. »

tahiti padel ace phoenix
tahiti padel ace phoenix
tahiti padel ace phoenix
tahiti padel ace phoenix
tahiti padel ace phoenix
tahiti padel ace phoenix

A sacrificed tennis court

“The very good news is that the padel is becoming a major sport in the club. We no longer have a choice, we have to expand. I even had to sacrifice a tennis court. This is why we are going to go from 2 to 5 tracks of padel from 2023.”

“We are going to see how to organize great national events, but also international ones. Because people are discovering this sport. And they love it. I think that in the long term the island will be able to become a great ambassador for this sport. »

“Personally, I remain a big tennis fan. I continue to play. But it's true that playing padel also very pleasant. Moreover, my wife and my daughter-in-law are in the process of embarking on the padel, something less obvious when we were talking about tennis. THE padel is able to address many very different profiles. »

tahiti padel ace phoenix

Le padel is getting younger

“I'm 16, I'm a swimmer, says Poemana, the president's daughter-in-law. And now I play regularly, at least once a week. I also do internships during the holidays. I am the youngest in my group, but I can see that the padel is in the process of being rejuvenated and reaching an increasingly large audience. I'm not from a tennis background, and frankly, doing a racquet sport had never really crossed my mind. But the padel, it's different.

Today, the idea is to even do a bit of forward competition. A dream would be to play with Léa as a partner, but there is still a long way to go.”

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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