It’s not surprising that Francisco Villaverde Reed invests so much passion into his padel business – because he feels deeply indebted to the sport that has changed his life.
Francisco is founder of The Padel Company, a London-based wholesale distribution outfit that identifies the world’s top padel brands and represents them in the UK market to grow their presence.
Raised in Marbella by a padel-mad English mother and Spanish father, he competed at a very high junior level before going to university in London. Thereafter he worked in a series of start-ups and most recently a property investment company, making money but thoroughly detesting the job.
Additionally, throughout his life Francisco has had, and continues to have, severe ADHD. He is constantly plagued by racing thoughts, lack of sleep and an over-abundance of energy and constant need for stimulation.
Francisco experienced some of his “darkest moments” while working in his previous job. With the incessant mental restlessness of ADHD, Francisco has always found sanctuary on a padel court.
“What padel has done for me in my life… it’s much more than just a sport,” he tells The Padel Paper.
“I went through a few unpleasant things in my childhood and padel was very much an escape for me.
“The only times I was properly at peace were being far out at sea, underwater, in the mountains with no signal, or on a padel court. They’re the only places I can find mental silence or at least disconnect in some way.”
His decision to make a career pivot into padel came last year. The death of “someone incredibly close to me, like a parental figure” and the continuing “misery” of working in the private client world were taking a toll.
“I went down the most awful route,” he explains. “I picked up some bad habits and had less and less regard for my wellbeing. I was severely depressed and I was getting really dark thoughts.
“As usual, my mind kept going at a million miles an hour. The only time I could escape that was when I was on a padel court. It was definitely a lifeline for me.
“I hope the people that played those games with me realise how integral they were in keeping me close to normality.”
Having largely stopped playing padel since moving to the UK, he picked it up again at the National Tennis Centre and Chelsea Harbour Club after the pandemic.
He found that 6am matches took the edge of his hyperactivity and increased his mental stamina for the rest of the day. “It really helps me focus,” he says. “I can think slightly slower and more rationally and sleep a little better than I normally do.”
Realising he had many useful attributes – being fluent in Spanish and English, having huge technical padel knowledge and financial nous – he quit his job last summer, invested in a big stock of padel equipment, held it in the UK and started his own business.
“If I wanted to make money, I’d have stayed in the world I was in before,” he says. “But for me, padel is a personal passion project – and with good reason.”
Since launching in September, The Padel Company has shifted over 3,500 rackets. A self-confessed “padel snob”, Francisco only works with what he considers “the best brands,” such as Varlion, RS and Volt.
Francisco is concerned that the current padel boom in the UK is leading to some rushed and
amateurish products and services – overly-sanded courts with poor lighting and variable bounce, clubs with poor social facilities and inexperienced coaches. “There’s a gold rush at the moment and standards are slipping,” he says.
With his own company, he takes a meticulous approach. The Padel Company works with clubs or
retail spaces looking to stock padel equipment, analysing local markets and demographics to help maximise turnover and mitigate the risk for retailers.
“We really go into detail in breaking down what a good padel racket consists of and looks like. We keep our standards very high.
“We don’t want to stock 10,000 rackets from 30-odd brands. That’s not what we’re about at all. We’d rather have the reputation as a distribution company who you know will give you high quality equipment. I don’t want to get involved in sales, I want the confidence of putting a racket in someone’s hand and say, ‘Tell me what you think.’”
The Padel Company currently has 3,000 rackets in stock in the UK. Sponsorship of top British players Chris Salisbury, Rafael Vega and Catherine Rose are helping to build its profile. There are plans to expand into the growing markets of Belgium, Holland and France shortly and sights are set on the US by the end of the year. “It’s a really exciting time,” says Francisco.
As he builds the business, he continues to be thankful for padel as a tool to regulate his racing mind. “Padel really helps me with focusing and channelling,” he states. “ADHD actually makes me hyper-focused at certain times and able to do multiple things at once. I’ve learned that it needn’t be a disadvantage at all, I’m almost able to control it!”
