Chief padel addict Andi Neugarten-Maio talks 6LoveSports and female padel, says, ‘It’s a way of connecting’

Gender disparity has always been an issue in professional sports. Tennis, football, and athletics have all faced issues with gender equality.

Padel, on the other hand, is embracing and calling for women’s involvement in the sport. Investment in female padel is growing from grassroots to professional.

Sports News Blitz’s Vanely Barumire sat down with one of the biggest names helping bring female padel to the forefront - Andi Neugarten-Maio.

From a beginner’s lesson to building a movement

Neugraten-Maio got into padel the best possible way - through a beginner’s lesson at “a beautiful Spanish resort.”

Coming from a tennis background, Neugraten-Maio picked up the racket sport fairly quickly. She fell in love with the sport, became the self-acclaimed ‘Chief Padel Addict,’ and the rest is history:

“It was selfish at first because I wanted to create something for people at my level for me to play with more regularly so I kind of created these groups and were playing regularly.

“Then I saw that some of the other players, at the other levels were having similar issues and were struggling to find good matches so I created groups for them as well. Then I had the idea of ‘Let’s create a league, let’s create teams and let’s start playing together and meeting each other’.

“So in January of this year, I launched the 6LoveSports Miami Women’s padel league. We have now played three seasons. It has become the biggest women’s league in the country. Every week, we play about 80 ladies and we have over 100 people showing up to support their teams”. 

A women’s padel community based in Miami, Florida, 6LoveSports is about building a community for women who are passionate about padel.

Incorporating the social aspect of padel with healthy competition, 6Lovesports brings women together to network and connect with each other. 

“It feels like an incredible accomplishment”.

The community has grown further than Neugraten-Maio has imagined, adding that, “When I started this, I really didn’t know what I was doing. I just knew that I had to do something. I didn't know how it was going to grow or how it was going to explode but it’s very, very rewarding to look back now, a year later.”

Female padel is rising - and community is driving it

As the sport continues to grow, so does the investment into female participation.

Empower Padel, a global padel community for female players, announced a three-year partnership with Britain's leading wealth manager, Evelyn Partners, earlier this year.

As part of the partnership, the two organisations will host events to inspire women and girls across the country to take up team sport.

Only 7% of women over 18 play team sports, according to an AXA report, saying that it is easier for men to take part. 

That is why communities like 6LoveSports are so important.

”It’s a way of connecting. It’s a way of feeling connected. It’s a whole new way of socialising. What Women love to do with their friends is develop with their friends which is a very big part of it.”

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Why padel’s social side matters more than ever

Padel’s most appealing quality is its social aspect. Something 6LoveSports understands and focuses on:

“It can be very lonely. People move to a new city, it is very nice to have a community to be part of when you have a skill. I think that is a very big deal - to be able to take that skill and show up to court and say ‘hey, I can actually play with it.’” 

And just as the padel is becoming global, 6LoveSports is also looking to capitalise on the international growth. 

“We are going to be a global organisation. We already are. My goal is to connect women internationally through padel, just all over the world.

“Padel is exploding as we know. I think this is just the beginning. I think in the next few years we are going to see a remarkable change in the growth of Padel. We’re just at the very beginning of it.

“For me, I would like to be the biggestwomen’s padel community in the world. I would like to be able to develop friendships or have mycommunity develop friendships all over the world.”

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