GB juniors make FIP Promises mark
As the GB men’s and women’s teams head to Italy for the European Padel Championships, our ‘next-gen’ youngsters have been proving they too can perform on the international stage following a competitive showing against some of the best juniors in the world.
As previously reported in The Bandeja, four of the UK’s most promising players – Chloe De La Mare partnering Rosie Quirk, and Stan Hunt partnering Chloe’s brother Liam, took part in the recent FIP Promises event in Alicante – the first time GB juniors have played this junior category of FIP (International Padel Federation) tournament.
The experience proved so positive that both pairings are now considering competing in the open pairs event at the FIP Juniors European Padel Championships in Budapest in September – if they can secure funding to help expense the trip. The LTA has chosen not to send a GB squad to the championships.
The quartet is also looking to secure additional funding to that already provided by leading padel equipment retailer Padel Shack to allow them to play more FIP Promises and train in Europe.
Prior to the FIP Promises tournament Tom Murray, Head of Padel at the LTA, said he would be following the British juniors, adding: “There isn’t an official British junior team as we don’t select junior teams as of yet, but this is something we are keen to develop over the coming years as the pool of players gets larger and with a greater talent depth. We are keen to not make the same mistakes as in previous years, whereby sending inexperienced players to compete against some of the best players in the world, which has been detrimental to some players, parents, and further growth.
“Players are now invited to national camps as part of the LTA’s junior pathway programme and more experienced junior players are being encouraged to start competing in FIP Promises events,” added Tom.
FIP Promises results
Rosie and Chloe made it through to the quarter finals after winning their first match 6-3, 6-3. They lost in the quarters 2-6, 4-6 but were close to pushing it to a third set against the Spanish pairing of Covadonga Verdejo Saiz and Ines Mendoza Palazón. Covadonga is No 1 in the FIP Junior rankings and the second highest ranked junior in Spain.
Chloe said: “Rosie and I have only been playing together since March so to get a win in our first FIP Promises event has been amazing. We had chances against the best ranked junior in Spain and I can’t wait till we have the opportunity to try again!”
Rosie added: “When I started playing padel six months ago I never imagined that I would be competing at this level. I am loving playing with Chloe and we are both so excited for the future.”
Liam and Stan scored a bye in their first round match and were then pitted against Jose Domingo Martinez Garcia (No 2 seed and part of the U15s Spanish Junior World Championship winning team) and his partner Aaron Garcia Rubio. Despite the challenge the boys made their mark, taking two games in the first set and three in the second.
Liam said afterwards: “I felt like we played really well. They were obviously very good but we were always in the games, even if we lost them, so I don’t feel like we are actually that far off the level over here in Europe.”
Opposition In the back draw proved equally tough, with the boys facing the No 32 U16 player in the world, Lucca Carlesso Leaes, and Agustin Alvarez Puente (from Brazil and Ecuador respectively). The experience of the Latin American pair proved too much for the British duo with a 2-6, 2-6 loss.
Looking back over the experience, Stan said: “To be able to come out here and play against some of the best juniors has been a great experience for us. Although we didn’t win we played well and it has inspired us to keep training as we now know we can be competitive on the world stage.”
It was an outstanding achievement for the four teens, all participating in the U16s category, and even more so when it’s considered that Liam and Chloe live in Guernsey so practice time together for the pairings is limited.
They were supported at the tournament by coach Dan Troy, of DT Padel Academy. He described the teenagers as ‘amazing’ and the tournament as ‘an amazing experience’ for them to ‘test’ themselves against some of the the best in the world in their age group.
“To be competitive at such early stages of their padel journeys is just amazing. I am so proud of them all and how they have represented the DT Padel Academy with such professionalism and joyfulness. It shows that with good training, structure and support these juniors have the capabilities to really progress in the sport to a much higher level,” said Dan.
“For the boys to come up against the U15s World Champion is crazy and 6-2, 6-3 is a good learning curve. It shows them a different way of playing, a different style being that much quicker, that much cleaner on their shots so it is fantastic for them and it hopefully gives them an insight on wanting to do more and get better. I am really, really pleased and really, really proud. Their attitude was just spot on,” he added.
Dan was clear before the event that the tournament was about enjoying padel, learning and competing with, importantly, no focus on winning. The decision to take the young players – all members of the 50-strong GB junior squad – to Spain revolved around benchmarking them against other European juniors and identifying coaching and progression needs. 🎾
