Game4Padel hits 100 coaches milestone
Game4Padel, the UK’s leading padel operator with 20 venues, is celebrating after reaching the milestone of 100+ coaches now trained by the organisation in conjunction with Padelmba.
The Padelmba qualification gives trained coaches the potential to work in the UK or overseas to meet growing demand for the sport around the world. Game4Padel – which has backers including Andy and Jamie Murray and Virgil van Dijk, introduced the coaching pathway in 2022 as part of its plan to build padel communities, as National Development Manager James Rose explained:
“It’s all very well building padel courts but you need passionate and knowledgeable coaching teams to drive engagement, maintain retention and build playing communities. This is a new sport and we always knew that getting an experienced network of coaches all across the UK was key to getting it off the ground and making our business a success. We invested heavily in this from the outset. We now have 18 of the coaches we’ve trained working at our venues. As we continue to build more venues, this team will grow,” he said.
“We have just had our best summer yet, despite the terrible weather! Some of our courts were at 100% occupancy…in no small part due to the dedicated coaching team we have on board.
- Michael Gradon, Game4Padel CEO
The Game4Padel coaching pathway offers four courses – Certified Padel Coach, Certified Padel Coach Plus, Certified Padel Coach Kids and Certified Padel Manager. All allow coaches to become LTA Accredited and coach at LTA registered venues. One USP of the Padelmba course is that coaches can qualify as an ‘Instructor’ (grade between 60% and 79%) or ‘Coach’ (grade 80%+).
Each course incorporates practical training on court, learning various aspects of the game including technique and tactics, sports psychology, physical preparation and padel research, as well as theory sessions. Each coach leaves with a full coaching plan for a year. Coaches need to pass a rigorous exam at the end of their course before being certified by Game4Padel and Padelmba, which is based in Spain and operates in more than 34 countries. It has trained more than 2,300 coaches worldwide.
Game4Padel CEO Michael Gradon added: “We believe our business is unique in having a coaching pathway like this in the UK. We have two trained padel coaches on our management team and I think this has been fundamental in how we’ve approached building our padel communities. Many of us also have extensive experience in tennis which we’ve been able to apply to padel.
“We have just had our best summer yet, despite the terrible weather! Some of our courts were at 100% occupancy and this is in no small part due to the dedicated coaching team we have on board. Padel is becoming a great career option for many people and this workforce will continue to drive the growth of the sport in this country, at our venues and beyond.” 🎾
For details of the coaching courses click here.
