Women’s padel in Scotland has received a boost with the formation of the Scottish Ladies Padel organisation.
While the game grows exponentially south of the border, in Caledonia a lack of courts and structure – particularly in a competitive context – continues to present a formidable obstacle to padel’s expansion. The struggle to fill even modest competition draws often leads to events being cancelled.
It was this background of frustration and pedestrian progress that was behind the creation of Scottish Ladies Padel (SLP) earlier this month. The organisation has its own website at www.scottishladiespadel.com and has amassed hundreds of followers on social media.
SLP has already played a key part in saving an LTA Grade 5 ladies’ tournament at Game4Padel’s state of the art Edinburgh Park HQ from collapsing due to lack of numbers.
All of which underlines that there is a growing appetite for padel among the fairer sex north of the border, according to SLP founder Rachel Richmond. “We want to get info out there to women and people who want to play mixed padel and let them know what is going on both in Scotland and beyond,” she said.
“Getting girls and younger women involved in padel is something that is important to us. The drop-out rate of teenage girls in sport is at its peak from primary into secondary school years and is normally down to disruption of friendship groups and other confidence-related issues.
“At my own club, Edinburgh Sports Club, we have tried to get girls back into squash and I really want teenage girls to try out padel as well. We need to get players out there playing friendlies at other clubs to see what levels they are comfortable with.
“In Scotland we need to see matches between ESC [Edinburgh Sports Club], WOSP [West of Scotland Padel] and Thistle. I see that as vital to growing the game up here. Wouldn’t it be great if Edinburgh Sports Club could play Chelsea Harbour and Middlesbrough and really get involved nationally? We need so much more structure.”
Rachel has played padel at Edinburgh Sports Club for seven years and has seen padel grow from just four women players on one open-air court to three covered courts.
She said: “Like everywhere in Scotland, the supply just isn’t meeting the demand. I’ve noticed with a lot of competitions the men’s are oversubscribed but the female categories just don’t seem to happen.
“I’ve signed up for two LTA competitions in the last six months and both times the ladies’ category was cancelled. I just wanted to take a positive step to get ladies’ and mixed categories moving.
“Our website is on the way to being a one-stop shop of tournaments nationwide, padel sites, padel news and an opportunity for ladies to connect with other padel clubs abroad who offer padel holidays and camps.”
SLP have already forged a collaboration with court manufacturer Game4Padel that has shown real promise for the development of the female padel community in and around the Scottish capital.
Vincent Hivert, Growth and Participation Director at Game4Padel, got in touch with Scottish Ladies Padel immediately after they were formed to drum up support for a recent Grade 5 event.
A lady in Aberdeen and a girl in Edinburgh were among those to answer the call on social media and the tournament went from two to 20 entries. “That underlines what we can achieve working together for the good of women’s padel in Scotland,” states Rachel.
The event was won by Mercedes Perez Gonzales and Flora Sanches Rubio from WOSP, who beat Iria del Rio and Fiona Livingston in the final.
“The rest of the girls really enjoyed watching them play,” said Rachel. “It was a real success story, the feedback was superb, and they are all desperate to enter the next tournament.”
This surely bodes well for the growth of the women’s game beyond Hadrian’s Wall.
To enter the LTA Padel Regional/Game4Padel Tour Mixed at Edinburgh Park Padel & Tennis on Saturday April 1, click here.
Pictured top: Meghan Montgomery and Rachel Scallion
