The LTA will not be sending a Great Britain team to September’s FIP Junior European Padel Championships in Budapest because it says the “player base is not wide enough.”
The team event at the European Junior Championships, which runs from 2-7 September, features the likes of Ireland, Estonia and Lithuania in the list of pre-registered nations – but Great Britain has decided against entering a team in the boys’ or girls’ competitions.
GB’s national junior programme is overseen by Libby Fletcher, who is also women’s national coach. After holding two initial national junior camps (the first just before Christmas), the LTA selected an U14 and U18 squad who met last weekend at Rocket Padel in Bristol for a training day.
However, with each team in Budapest required to select a minimum of two players at U14, U16 and U18 age groups, the LTA has decided the squad lacks the depth to commit to making the trip to Hungary.
In a statement to The Padel Paper, LTA Head of Padel, Tom Murray, said: “We wanted to send a team, however there’s not a wide enough player base to support a national team in all age groups.
“Unfortunately, there’s only a handful of venues that have youth programmes in this country and for this reason there’s a lack of players and database to build from. Therefore, we’re busy delivering youth camps in order to build up a database of players and create a platform for each age group. We then rely on venues locally and their workforce to continue building momentum.”
The Padel Paper spoke to several parents of top GB juniors this week about the LTA decision and although all were reluctant to be quoted publicly, they all used the same word: disappointing.
One father said: “We really want the children to be able to progress and test themselves at higher levels and at the moment they only get that through entering adult tournaments. I had hoped the LTA would facilitate this whenever possible so this decision is really disappointing.”
However, there was some agreement with the rationale behind the LTA’s decision. Another parent said: “It seems to me we’re probably five years away from getting a big enough draw for a proper national junior competition. There just aren’t enough courts for juniors to get the volume of practice in as they’re always stacked out with adults.”
The LTA has stressed that British juniors can enter the open pairs (i.e. non-team) competition at the FIP Juniors European Championships in Budapest, which begins on 27 August and has U14, U16 and U18 boys’ and girls’ draws. Any pairs interested in entering should notify National Coach Libby Fletcher and their entries will be filed with FIP.
In its statement to The Padel Paper, the LTA added that it will be increasing youth competitions around the country in 2025, including “a possible national championship and friendly competitions against other countries.”
