Brit juniors soak up Euro Champs experience
The FIP Juniors European Padel Championships concluded in Budapest at the weekend. Fourteen of GB’s brightest young padel players were funded by their families to participate and gain what is seen as vital experience in their fledgling padel careers – and in doing so returned some promising results. The Bandeja reports.
A crop of Britain’s next generation padel talent have tested themselves against their European peers after competing at the FIP Juniors European Padel Championships in Hungary.
British participation in the event was thrown into doubt in the summer when the LTA revealed it wouldn’t be sending a boys or girls teams to the event because it claimed there was ‘a lack of players’ and not ‘a wide enough talent base’.
However, a number of parents opted to cover the cost of travelling and competing in the pairs section of the six day tournament in Budapest, which concluded on Saturday.
Chris Warren, owner of Rocks Lane Padel in Chiswick, London – who accompanied his son Jesse who was competing in the Boys Under-14s – secured sponsorship to provide the team with kit plus funding to take Rocks Lane head coach and former World Padel Tour player turned professional coach Alex Grilo, who provided training sessions in Budapest
We are definitely ready. Looking at the standard of the teams, a GB team would have got in the top 10.
- Chris Warren, Rocks Lane founder and father of player Jesse
Competitors
In total, 14 GB juniors made the trip. Six pairs competed across the three boys’ age groups with one girls’ pairing playing.
Participating in the Boys Under-18s were Oliver Heyday/Oscar Warneryd and Ben Welsford/Logan Macey. The Boys Under-16s featured Stan Hunt/Liam de la Mare. The Boys Under-14s were Oliver Grantham/Jesse Warren, Harley Dixon/Andrew Dunn and Joel Oyedele/Luka Petersen.
GB girls were represented by Rosie Quirk and Chloe de la Mare, competing in the Under-16s.
Given the nature of the pairs tournament much came down to the luck of draw and there was always the risk that each pair could end up only playing one match given the standard of opposition and the fact that they couldn’t enter the teams competition because they weren’t back by their national governing body, the LTA.
That was the case for five of the pairs. In the Boys Under-18s, both Heyday/Warneryd and Welsford/Macey lost to Italians. In the Boys Under-16s, a Spanish duo saw off Hunt/de la Mare.
In the Boys Under-14s, Oydele/Porath also lost to Spanish opponents, while Grantham/Warren lost a tight three-setter to a Norwegian duo.
However, there were wins to celebrate. In the Boys Under-14s, Dunn/Dixon secured a straight sets win over a Spanish duo but were unable to repeat the feat against their next Spanish opponents, who went on to reach the semi-finals.
Quirk/de la Mare easily beat their Hungarian rivals in their opening game and then put in a battling display against an Italian pair, who won and went on to reach the semi-finals.
The results made the decision to enter the tournament more than justified according to the players’ parents.
Wendy Hunt, mum of Stan, said: “It has been just an incredible atmosphere. People who have played in other European events have commented that they haven’t experienced anything like this in terms of the atmosphere.
“We had seven pairs competing and while we didn’t have an official team, they were invited to be part of the opening ceremony, which was just incredible. The hotel where everyone was staying….one of the kids said this must be what the Olympic Village is like. Everyone was making sure they had a fantastic time.
“The kids got to know each other and got to play padel every day as Chris (Warren) had pre-booked courts. Being here was an opportunity to see other players from other countries, see the standards and to also make the most of this experience.
“From a competition point of view, this is where it differed. As we could only enter the pairs that meant that most of the kids only got one game. Those countries entered in the team event got to play more matches and gain more experience at this level.
“What we also learned from this, looking at the other countries, is that we should just go for it. We know of countries that really wanted to be involved. They have fewer courts than the UK, fewer players than the UK, but they wanted to put in a team and they found pairs, with far less experience, to ensure they made it happen.”
“What could we, that’s a collective we, do better? It’s not moaning and finger pointing but encouraging and saying we can really do this. Use this as a beginning to progress these players and other juniors in the sport.
- Dan Troy, of DT Padel Academy, and coach to Stan, Rosie, Liam and Chloe
Chris Warren, who recently spoke to The Bandeja about creating a better coaching infrastructure for the UK’s junior players and was instrumental in supporting the junior players in Budapest, had nothing but praise for the Hungarian hosts, who are relative newcomers to padel.
“The organisation by the Hungarian Federation was nothing short of amazing. It shows what can be achieved if you really put your mind to it. As a country they haven’t got many facilities and very few courts. They haven’t any large facilities and so they used four clubs to stage this.
“It was logistically challenging. They had 17 boys teams, 12 girls teams plus parents and officials, which must have been around 400-500 people in total. They laid on transport from the hotel, which was a great venue, and the whole thing was just phenomenal.
“I’ve been to a lot of tournaments and nothing was like this for atmosphere. It has cost them around €180,000 to stage but they had the support of the government, of the federation and sponsors to make it happen.”
Having witnessed the standard of play and the teams taking part, he also felt that a GB team could have made an impression. He said: “We are definitely ready. Looking at the standard of the teams here, a GB team would have got in the top 10. You have got six teams – Spain, Sweden and Italy who are very good. Portugal, Belgium and France are also at a good standard and the ones you would expect to compete for the championship.
“Our girls, Rosie and Chloe, won their first game 6-0 6-0. We could certainly have held our own. We have to give more of our younger players the experience of playing in events like this so they know what to expect. Getting that experience is massive for their development.”
Positive
Dan Troy, who coaches Stan, Rosie, Liam and Chloe, is also keen to see positive steps made – especially with a focus to develop GB players for the prospect of competing at a future Olympic Games in maybe eight or 12 years.
“It is great to see the likes of Stan, Rosie, Liam, Chloe and the other players involved in the championships and to get this experience. It’s now about how to build on this,” Dan told The Bandeja.
“What could we, that’s a collective we, do better. It’s not moaning and finger pointing but encouraging and saying we can really do this. Use this as a beginning to progress these players and other juniors in the sport. Look at how far they can go. What investment do we have to drive this forward? Of course there will be questions about why the LTA did not send a team but we have to see this as a defining moment to take it forward. Can we do more?
“Can we get the infrastructure of more courts and coaches and can we get the support for those younger players to play in more championships, get the experience and prepare them for the likes of the Olympics in years to come.”
But the final word goes to U14 player Stan Hunt. He told The Bandeja: “It was great fun and a brilliant experience. Such a good vibe in the hotel and watching the teams games was good. Now we can see where we need to get to.”
UPDATE: A spokesman for the LTA told The Bandeja: “The LTA is keen to support GB representative junior teams and players in padel events as part of its wider approach to support the padel performance network in Britian. However, as mentioned previously, we feel the game is still developing at a junior level in Britain which is why we aren’t fielding age-group teams. Players that want to enter international ‘open’ competitions, like the FIP tournament in Budapest, can do so off their own back and we are happy to support their entries, as they require NGB endorsement, into these competitions.
“The LTA is delivering a series of youth camps across the country as one of the interventions to help identify and develop a cohort of junior players capable of representing their country on the international stage. Additionally, it will shortly be announcing a new strategy which sets out how it intends to open padel up to more players across all elements of the game – with a focus on growing the infrastructure of padel, increasing and diversifying the coaching workforce and building on the performance pathway (including juniors) as well as expanding the competitions calendar, and driving participation in Great Britain. 🎾
