During the  Head Padel Open   at My Center Palavas , Padel Magazine had the opportunity to discuss with  Gregory Pestre , Sports Director and key figure in the development of padel in  Tennis Padel Bourg-les-Valence. 

Occupancy rate up to 80%

“Today, the club is proud to have four padel courts, which are always full from morning to night. A real success, all the more remarkable since at the beginning, it was not easy to make the voice of padel heard, I had to use persuasion with the municipality!
Currently, padel is the club's star discipline. The occupancy rate of the four padel courts varies between 70% and 80%, while the occupancy rate of the tennis courts does not reach half.

This large turnout is evidence of the general enthusiasm for padel. For the moment, this remains at the project stage, but I hope to convince the municipality to invest in two additional courts by 2025.”

A padel environment to come and play

“The club does not just offer playing fields. It has set up a complete environment that allows newcomers to discover padel, learn and progress.

When a player comes to the club for the first time, he has the opportunity to play for free. The goal is to make him fall in love with the sport, which the club achieves in the vast majority of cases.”

The 4 keys to success

“I have put in place a strategy based on 4 elements:

1/ New players are immediately integrated into level groups. So even if they don't know anyone at first, they can quickly find playmates.

2/ A training and internship program is offered throughout the year. This gives players wishing to progress the possibility of taking group or sometimes individual lessons.

3/ In terms of competition, the club regularly organizes tournaments for amateurs.

4/ Finally, each year, the club hosts a P1000 tournament for ladies and one for gentlemen. The men's P1000 tournament was a great success, with the support of Padel Magazine and our partners. The players particularly appreciated this competition. The club hopes the women's P1000 tournament will be just as successful. »

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.

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