Meet Julian Brown – the man planting the padel seed in New Zealand

Kiwi Julian Brown was desperate to play padel, but the sport didn’t exist in his country – so he took on the task of growing the sport in his native New Zealand.

“I was waiting for it to turn up and then it just dawned on me, I’m going to have to do this myself,” Brown says. “I couldn’t wait any longer and, to be honest, I thought New Zealand was missing out.” 

Although Julian’s project won’t be New Zealand’s first ever padel court, the company he has founded with with ex-All Black Troy Flavell – Pacific Padel – will be opening four new clubs across Auckland in 2024. Julian’s belief in the project knows no bounds. 

“We have taken the approach of backing ourselves and just believing in the sport,” he tells The Padel Paper. “I ordered eight courts before we were even close to securing our first site. That was my level of confidence.” 

Supplied by Padel Galis, Pacific Padel already have their first court secured at Albany Tennis Centre in Auckland and will be looking to bring in big names to bolster their coaching staff. 

The likes of New Zealand’s former number one tennis player, Jade Lewis, and ‘the Godfather of New Zealand tennis’, Jeff Simpson, are both involved with the project. Lewis, in fact, is set to become one of the first certified padel coaches in the country. 

Brown’s belief in the project was instilled by his own experiences with padel outside of New Zealand. He first encountered the sport in Sotogrande, Spain, over 20 years ago when a “bit of fun” ended up with him playing the against the top seed in Spain at the time. 

“I had no idea about the sport. It was when the padels were wooden and it wasn’t glass, it was concrete,” Brown recalls. 

“It was memorable. It reminded me of what we played in New Zealand, inside those brick walls with our hands, playing off the wall at school.” 

It was a much more recent encounter with padel, however, that convinced him that it was sport that needed to be brought back to New Zealand. Travelling to South Africa in early 2022, he noted padel’s popularity and social nature. 

“Every social situation was dominated by chat about padel, who’s playing tomorrow, where they’re playing, can somebody jump into this game. Honestly it was non-stop,” says Brown. “I came back from South Africa wanting to play it. I knew that if I wanted to play it, others would too.” 

So far, it seems they will. By introducing the idea of padel to New Zealand, Brown feels he has found a group of people raring to play and get involved.  

“The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive,” he says. “I didn’t actually expect that, particularly in a country that has no idea what the sport is.” 

Such a response from the Kiwis, Brown puts down to their willingness to try new things as an already “sporty nation”. 

“I think we’re adventurous, we’re sporty, and we’re social,” he enthuses. “That almost describes padel itself.” 

Brown hopes to harbour the enthusiasm by creating programmes with plans to run tournaments, coaching academies and corporate days. He also wants to grow interest by working with regional tennis bodies and local squash clubs. 

Through the Pacific Padel structure, Brown is determined to create a sustainable future for padel in New Zealand. 

“As we’re the first ones doing the whole club model, there is a responsibility to do it well,” he explains. “We have to make sure we’re engaging properly with the community, and it’s done to a very high standard. 

“We want to keep rolling the club model out through New Zealand, potentially up to 25 clubs over the next four years. Each club should be at least four courts, so we have the potential to expand to 100 plus courts in that time.” 

Whilst his plans might seem ambitious, Brown is confident in their success given Pacific Padel’s approach, and he holds even greater hopes for the future of padel. 

“The sport needs to be driven from the grassroots level. From kids’ involvement to building a pathway all the way through to a national and international level and, fingers crossed, to the Olympics.”