Wind and rain lashed against the canopy above the two padel courts at Huddersfield Tennis and Squash Club, but there was no dampening the energy, gusto and curiosity of the group underneath it as they took their first steps into a new coaching experience.
Eleven tennis coaches from across the north gathered in West Yorkshire for the LTA’s ‘Intro to Padel’ course, looking to diversify their skills and knowledge to equip themselves to lead padel activity back at their clubs. Thanks to a kind invite from the LTA, The Padel Paper joined them.
One or two of the group had played a bit of padel, but most knew virtually nothing about the rules and nuances of the game. It’s not surprising, therefore, that LTA tutor Jo Cunliffe was deluged with questions almost immediately.
One of the most enjoyable elements of the course is that it is so practical. Right from the off, we all had rackets in hands and the coaches learned through simply hitting balls and having their questions answered as they played. It was fascinating to hear their first observations about the game and how quickly (or otherwise!) they adapted to the key differences to tennis.
As the name suggests, the course is an entry-level introduction to give coaches the basic knowledge, tools and confidence to get padel activity going, without necessarily equipping them with detailed technical know-how to coach intermediate or advanced players.
With a career’s worth of experience on a tennis court, the students don’t need reminding of any of the fundamentals of coaching practice – it’s the padel-specific stuff they need to learn, so tutor Jo runs through the terminology, rules, basics of the technique and the differences that four walls and a smaller space make to coaching a group, such as safety and demonstrations.
The talking never lasts long, though. We’re soon into fun games, challenges and throwing ideas around between ourselves.
“It is five hours of fun,” says Jo. “It’s very active and practical. Wherever I deliver this course there’s a really great atmosphere with wide-eyed people starting their padel journey.
“People coming to these courses are like sponges – they’re here to learn. As tennis and squash coaches and players, we’ve already got those skills of effective communication, demonstration, organisation and feeding. This is around specific soft skill development, slowing the pace down, learning the different flight paths, using the glass and lobbing. It’s all an amazing learning curve and an exciting journey.”
As LTA Head of Coach Education and Qualifications Jo Ward recently told us: “The Intro to Padel Coaching course is the most popular CPD across the whole of the LTA coach education menu. I’ve been delivering coach education for many years, but I’ve never seen such joy as when delivering that course.”
Intro to Padel is one of three CPD (continuous professional development) padel courses launched by the LTA (in addition to ‘How to Coach the Double Glass’ and ‘Coaching Kids Padel’).
The next step is the LTA Padel Instructor course, which features four days of tuition and a one-day elective. Applicants must have completed the LTA Padel Instructor readiness test, be LTA accredited or hold a DBS/PVG Enhanced Check with Child Barred List certificate applied for in the past 12 months through LTA/Tennis Scotland. This is equivalent to an LTA tennis Level 2 qualification.
Jo Cunliffe says: “This infrastructure of courses now runs from participation level right up to performance – it’s taken time to gather experts together, develop the content, pilot them all and get all the details right. We want to thank people for their patience.
“If we’re going to be delivering high quality, fun and engaging sessions to facilitate activity and social play, retain players and develop players at performance level, that’s down to our coaching workforce being properly prepared and trained. We’ve worked incredibly hard to get to this point and we’re proud of what’s been achieved.”
One of the learners at the Intro to Padel course in Huddersfield was Damian Galloway, a tennis coach for 25 years who coaches mainly at Sutton-upon-Derwent Tennis Club in York. He has played padel once a week for the last 18 months at a friend’s private court and enrolled on the course because he wants to start his own padel club in Pickering.
“Today has really whet my appetite to learn more,” he said. “As experienced tennis coaches, we tend to think, how difficult can padel be? But it’s its own distinct sport. While it’s relatable, there is a lot of specific knowledge you need. The learning experience was great fun. There’s more to it than I ever thought there would be.
“The tutor made it very easy to set up games and drills to give you clear ideas of how we can get padel activity going. It’s exciting how movement-based it is. That’s an over-riding message – not to get too bogged down in technique. I can already imagine it being so much easier to engage juniors in padel than it might be on a typical wet Wednesday afternoon on a tennis court.”
Chris Hinds, a Level 4 tennis coach, attended the course with some colleagues from David Lloyd Cheshire Oaks. They wanted to diversify their coaching skillsets ahead of padel courts opening at their club in November.
“It’s really exciting,” he said. “It makes us feel like we really want to get going with it. We’re obviously tennis-minded so some specifics about padel are really useful – like keeping the pace off the ball, not trying to smash everything, making use of the lob and making the walls your friends.
“The rallies can be more fun and varied than in tennis. It’s so addictive that you want to play it again. It’s genuinely exciting to get involved in something new.”
