GB ladies’ manager Sally Fisher says her squad has made “absolutely enormous” progress following their performance in last week’s FIP Senior European Padel Championships.
Team GB’s ladies’ seniors team (over-40s, 45s and 50s) finished eighth out of 15 in Alicante, while the ‘super seniors’ (over-50s, 55s and 60s) came fifth out of nine.
The over-60s trio Sally Bickerton, Audrey Henderson and Rosie Connell (Sally and Audrey pictured above) remained unbeaten all week, including an epic 6-7, 7-6, 10-8 victory over the Netherlands in a match which lasted over five hours across the three age categories, with GB unfortunately losing it 2-1.
GB’s men’s seniors ended up 10th from 16 after being pipped in their final tie by the Netherlands, while the super seniors were ninth from 15 after a closing victory over Austria. Spain, inevitably, were winners across all four categories.
The event attracted over 700 competitors from 17 countries. The four competitions, played over two venues, all featured group stages followed by knockouts for the title and play-off matches for the remaining nations to determine finishing positions.
Ladies’ squad manager and super seniors vice-captain Sally told The Padel Paper: “This event shows we have made massive strides since the World Senior Championships in Las Vegas a year ago.
“We turned up to that tournament, watched the top four countries – Spain, Sweden, France and Italy – and we just thought, ‘Wow!’ But this year, we were taking sets off them and meeting them toe to toe.
“The journey in one year has been absolutely enormous. We’ve worked hard and we’ve been very focused and intentional about our preparations.”
For super seniors team captain Jo Ward, the undoubted highlight was playing against Spain’s legendary former professional (now national coach) Iciar Montes.
“That was an unbelievable experience and I’m still buzzing from the whole week,” she commented. “We’ve all got the blues that it’s over and we’ve resumed normal life.
“For us, as a nation where the sport is so new, for the women to place eighth and fifth feels like we’ve got good momentum and a lot to build on for next year’s World Championships. We’re definitely punching above our weight.
“The team has left the tournament with an absolute commitment to continue our improvement. We want to set up an infrastructure for seniors padel that is going to keep driving standards and ensure we catch up and overtake nations who’ve played padel for longer than us.”
An open seniors training day in April saw 38 players trial for places on the team, followed up by regular squad training camps.
“The speed at which our top players are improving is phenomenal and very pleasing,” said women’s manager Sally. “That has been really helped by the LTA increasing the number of tournaments for seniors.”
All nations were only given two months’ notice to prepare for the championships, with the inclusion of the women’s super seniors category announced at the last minute. Having predicted that the 50+ categories would be added, Team GB’s ‘super seniors’ had been preparing for the last 10 months.
“Nobody can be sure of their place in the team now as we’re seeing new people coming through all the time,” beams Sally.
“What’s wonderful is we’re seeing fantastic players coming from tennis, squash, handball or racketball whose standard in their specialist sport is starting to go down. They remember how they could play aged 21 and know they will only get worse.
“But the thing they love about starting padel is they can feel themselves getting better – even at 45, 50 or 60! That’s such an incredible feeling as a senior – to play a sport that you can feel yourself getting better at!”
Sally gave her heartfelt thanks to the LTA’s Padel Performance Manager, Matt Stanforth, who oversaw selection policy and chaired selection meetings for both men’s and women’s senior teams. “I must also thank fellow captain and vice-captains Libby Fletcher, Dawn Foxhall and Jo, as well as our wonderful sponsors Padel Shack,” she added.
The Padel Paper congratulates all four GB seniors teams and looks forward to next year’s World Seniors Championships!
