Padel news: Clash of the Coaches founder eyes expansion after successful London event

The prospect of regional and international Clash of the Coaches tournaments have been mooted following the first successful event in London.

More than 50 padel coaches from across the UK and overseas took part in the inaugural event at London’s Racketeer club on August 7.

The tournament, created by World Padel Network founder Jamie Rowe and run in partnership with Nico Padel 22, featured nine regional UK teams and one international team – competing in men’s, women’s and mixed competitions.

London’s Tom Farquharson and Steven Zahui took the men’s title, while the North East captured the other two with captain Abby Ombler partnering Sophie Cousins in a closely fought women’s final, and Sam Sweeney in the mixed showdown.

Backed by Pulco, PlaySight, Raquex and Padeltots, Rowe is already looking to the future after receiving a wealth of positive feedback from competitors and tournament partners.

Rowe said: “It's been amazing. I mean to take it from an idea to reality, it's been incredible. I think what means the most to me is how far some people have travelled with coaches coming from all across the UK and even from Italy and Spain to take part.

“We've had some really good feedback and it's great to see the coaches connect. There are some lessons in terms of structure, which we'll definitely take on board.

“As for the future, we've already had loads of interest from people to take it elsewhere. I’d definitely like to run a similar event in the north and also internationally as well.

“I think now that the first one has been held and people have seen it in action, I think they'll want to get involved in it.”

READ MORE: Team captains and ticket details confirmed for padel’s first Clash of the Coaches

The winning captains expressed total satisfaction with the tournament, bringing together so many of their coaching colleagues.

Farquharson, co-founder of The Padel School, said: “It's been amazing. Obviously, it's a tournament and it's competitive but I think the biggest thing that I've taken away is the networking and just to meet so many coaches.

“I think it's a really unique opportunity for coaches to meet other coaches, including international coaches. It’s been great to network, to share best practices, and it's been really, really fun.

“Hopefully, more and more coaches want to join and we can make it bigger. Next year it would be great to have even more courts and maybe more regions.”

Ombler, who is based at TC60 Padel in Hull, said: “It's been a long day, but an absolute class day. I think the event's been really good, to be fair. I've seen so many new faces that you wouldn't see. For networking and stuff like that, it's absolutely vital.”

All the brands were keen to be involved to support the coaches, who were described as the ‘backbone’ and ‘unsung’ heroes of the padel industry.

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Joe Middleton, founder of padel apparel brand Pulco, said: “Coaches are one of, if not the most important elements in helping to grow our game. 

"If we want padel to develop properly in this country, we'll need to have kids being taught now to be successful in 10 years' time and that needs a great network of coaches. So I'm happy to support the coaches in this country. This first Clash of the Coaches has been fantastic and beyond my expectation.

“It's been well organised and the coaches who have come, have come in absolutely the right spirit. I think Jamie's got ambitions to host some more of these and this is something that we would definitely want to be involved with.”

Olly Rose, founder of Raquex added: “We are big fans of World Padel Network and they produced a really cool initiative to support and recognise coaches. Our goal as a company is to promote padel in the country.”

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