Under the impulsion of the teaching team of the club and with the active and voluntary support of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes League, large gathering of padel schools of the region was organized this Saturday in Mind Padel. A very successful premiere, since more than 64 children derived from 7 different clubs responded.
More than ever aware that the development of our sport goes through the structuring of the practice of younger and their education, it is strong of a dynamic padel school (18 students in 2024, almost 40 in 2025) thatMind Padel collaborated with the ARA League to organize this gathering of padel schools in the region.
The objectives were multiple: first, to bring together the maximum number of young practitioners possible in one place in order to create links and community conducive to future exchanges. Then it was about validate a full training season by first competition in thefriendliest spirit possible. Finally, this allowed the supervisors to exchange on their methods et educational systems.
For this purpose, all clubs with a padel school were asked to register 2 or 3 pairs in each of the U12, U14 and U17 categories. The returns have far exceeded expectations, because almost all responded and played the game.
This Saturday, from 9h to 15h, whileMind Padel had deployed the same resources and staff as for a P2000 (welcome pack, JAP3, on-screen programming…), with the active support of the AURA League, more than 64 children aged 9 to 17 year-olds have chained no less than 112 games in a perfect sporting spiritSome won, some lost, but the essential was not there ! Everyone had fun !
La all young players then attended during the closing snack to one exhibition played by some of their professors (Justin marlot for Padels, Thomas Lacombe for Mind Padel, Damien Bayard for Call us) and, as an example, Tom BassoThe latter, just aged 18 years, was in their place in a regional club 5 or 6 seasons ago. Today, it is featured in the french top 30 and is at doors of the French senior team !
In the end, this big first will have been a formidable development accelerator and will be, for sure, renewed in the future. Damien Bayard defines the objectives: of the ARA League for young people: the development of mass practice for this season and the next and one ambitious sports policy subsequently. For his part, Mind Padel is fully in line with these priorities with the creation of API Academy, which aims, at a minimum, to double its workforce by September 2026 : the inscriptions are read !