THE LTA’s new lead for padel competition Sam Kemp has revealed that the game’s governing body is on course to double the amount of tournaments and entrants for 2022 from the previous 12-month span.
Kemp, whose official title is Competition Product Partner, took over his new role in January after overseeing a similar remit in the south west and by the end of June had already delivered 52 events to 1,300 entrants compared to the 50 events realised in the whole of 2021.
The 31-year-old has played a key behind the scenes role in helping produce next week’s FIP Rise London Padel Open at the NTC which boasts an impressive 9000 Euro prize pot equally split between the male and female competitions and easily the biggest tournament promoted in the UK so far.
Expanding the calendar of padel competitions is a key strand of the LTA’s ambitious Padel Development Plan and sits alongside work to support the development of infrastructure across courts, coaching and education as well as driving visibility and awareness of the sport.
With the number of tournaments and competitors growing exponentially and a record entry of 126 competing at last weekend’s Rocks Lane LTA Tour grade one tournament, Kemp’s passion for his job as well as his excitement at what the future holds, never mind what the present is bringing, is palpable.
Kemp said: “My full title is Competition Product Partner and as part of that role I manage LTA Padel competitions and primarily the LTA Padel Tour but also I am responsible for the FIP event in London next week and putting all the infrastructure behind these events.
“So by that I mean the sanctioning of the events, the referees, and the workforce and all these bits and pieces. Originally I joined the LTA four years ago and was part of the south west team where I was a competition development partner for the region and two years into that role I picked up padel as a side project to my day-to-day duties.
“Then over the next two years the number of padel events grew to a point where I was promoted into this new position of product partner role from January 2022.
“Basically each year we have doubled the number of events that have been held on the LTA Padel Tour. When we first took over from British Padel they were holding about 25 events per year and last year in my first full year of managing it we managed to double that to 50 events.
“We did that by introducing new grades of events, we’ve introduced a local tour to give local and new players the opportunity to compete for the first time but we have also looked to grow the number of high-end competitions as well.
“This year again the target is to deliver over 100 events throughout this calendar year and as of the end of June we had already delivered 52 events to 1,300 entries. The number of events we have on schedule from now until the end of the year will see us clear 100 for the year comfortably and finish with 2,700 player entries.”
With five tournament grades available to venues to select the most suitable level of competition for their particular venue Kemp admits he is already finding it a challenge to fit these within his framework for the calendar year.
He said: “We have two competition planning cycles per year and we plan our competition in two blocks with January to June being our first block and then July to December our second block and as part of that we reach out to all our LTA Padel registered venues and ask them if they would like to deliver an LTA Padel Tour event.
“So we have events from grade one, which are our national level events all the way to grade five which are our local level events and the requisite from a venue point of view changes according to the grade.
“We have an application process where venues let us know what they would like to deliver and what they have to offer facilities wise and it is my role to build a calendar of events that is suitable to the playing base and has a really good geographical spread.
“We are also finding now with so many new venues being built that they are very keen to host events shortly after they are up and running and a lot of these are out with the planning cycle but they are very keen to deliver events under the LTA umbrella.
“Looking at Scotland for example at West of Scotland Padel they delivered the first ever Grade One in Scotland at the beginning of the year and that was a really successful event. They have a whole competition programme at the venue and have also delivered a couple of grade two events and they offer the whole spectrum so they are doing a great job.
“We also work with several padel companies including Game4Padel and they’ve got a couple of venues in Scotland and have hosted several grade four and five events which have been very well run.
“If anyone wants to deliver padel competition and they want more information then we absolutely welcome those enquiries and specifically from a venue organiser perspective. “
Yet developing a vibrant events calendar and the number of competitive players battling it out is not the only area Kemp and his team are hungry to grow and in particular he was keen to expand on the LTA’S plans to increase the number of padel officials available to ensure the smooth running of their tour events.
He said: “Part of my role is to drive the standard and quality of these events through working with officials so that they become more skilled and gain more qualifications. So we have provided tennis officials with the opportunity to complete an online conversion course so they can convert their tennis officiating skills into padel officiating skills.
“We are also always on the lookout for more padel officials and we have a number of courses coming up over the second part of the year which people can sign up for, take part in, become a qualified official, and upskill themselves in padel so they can deliver more competitions as well.
“On a personal note it is just very exciting as I can’t think of any other sport in this country where the number of competitions and number of players entering them is doubling year on year. Really it only looks, with the number of venues opening and the size of these venues, that padel and padel competitions will continue along that trend.
“Last week Rocks Lane had over 120 players entering an event with a social side to it and not just competition and it was a social celebration and I am delighted that as part of my role I can support the organisers and venues to do that and get padel out there on such a big scale.”
