Christian Collange, Chairman of the Committee Padel in League Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur; gives a general overview of all the actions implemented in its league and more generally on the work of the FFT to develop padel among young people.

A pioneering league

Since taking office as president of the PACA regional commission Padel, more than 5 years ago, and before being commissioned by the FFT for young people, I directed a large part of the development towards young people with my regional commission and the various departmental committees. To promote a sport or develop it, it is essential to focus on young people, to create padel schools, and to offer competitions for them.

The PACA League was a pioneer in structuring detections, gatherings and competitions. This would not have been possible without the motivation of the clubs, structures, coaches... We have brought together all these great energies around our beautiful League center. Two pitches were quickly set up at the start, and we have four today. We hope to have more in the future, and to be able to cover them.

Coordinating work

The president of the league, the steering committee, as well as the permanent staff allow us to finalize and realize all our wishes. They are always behind us in the implementation of new padel projects and competitions.

What we have put in place in PACA has allowed us to obtain the last two titles of French inter-league champions for young boys and girls (2021 and 2022). We see that the level of young people continues to improve in all leagues. It is a pleasure to see these young people at this level. All this reflects the work of all the leagues and the work on the ground of the youth padel mission led by Arnaud Di Pasquale and coordinated by Alexia Déchaume.

Initiatives and projects

In PACA, for several years, we have implemented several initiatives:

Gatherings and detections of young people (5 per year)
Creation of a youth team championship (2 years ago)
Creation of a young U16 circuit of tournaments with a final master
Organize a French championship.

In the PACA region, we organize five gatherings a year. These events are targeted by age category as follows:

Less than 12 years
Less than 14 years
Less than 16 years
Less than 18 years
A special gathering for girls

In addition, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) organizes categorized national gatherings. These events take place in various leagues across France and this was particularly notable last year.

The objective of these gatherings is to target and detect young talents. This allows us to create a group of players for the future deadlines of the France team.

The world championships are approaching

This year, we set up with my CTR Thierry Boutot the Club Paca Performance Jeunes. We want to decentralize the detections and gatherings a little more, by organizing these in all the committees and why not by creating league bis poles.

The French youth championships are this year on a new formula:

Interleagues in U14 (3 teams with 2 boys pairs and a girls pair)
In pairs for the U18s with the best French pairs that have qualified in each league

In these future French championships, thirteen leagues will be represented. The national youth tournaments organized by the French Tennis Federation (FFT), as well as the national gatherings, are meeting opportunities for our best young French talents.

In addition, the big meeting is approaching: world championships are not far. We are therefore actively preparing to present our best elements on the international stage.

The 14th Junior Padel World Championships in Paraguay

As of today, the captains of the France Jeunes team are made up as follows: for the boys' team, we have Yann Auradou and Yannick Maurel as captains. As for the girls' team, it is led by Géraldine Sorel and myself. Regarding future decisions, they remain to be determined.

Help for players

The development of padel, especially among young people, is synonymous with the creation of padel schools, teacher training, detection and the proposal of competitions. The best French will pull the mass and be the visibility of our wonderful sport.

The FFT is putting in place resources for padel in general and especially for young people. We must continue and give a little time for all this work to bear fruit. The path is the right one, the road is long, but the will of the FFT, that of the leagues, allows us to be optimistic. Now, we need more courts: we really lack tracks to accommodate all these young people and this development.

Financial aid is available in the PACA region, and these are determined according to several factors such as the age of the player, the project in progress, the level of competence, and the investment demonstrated. A direct aid grid has been established to support the technical or physical training of players.

In addition, financial aid is also offered to facilitate participation in national tournaments, the French championship and other competitions. It is important to note that the granting of this aid is subject to certain conditions.

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.