Sandy Farquharson will be familiar to any dedicated padel follower in the UK. He is probably Britain’s most experienced and well-known padel coach – but he only fell into the sport due to a well-timed phone call.
Just over a decade ago, Sandy was head tennis coach at an academy in Dubai, having previously played in college and professionally and coached players (including his brother Tom) on the ATP and WTA tours. Sandy had decided he wanted to leave the academy and it was a week before his flight home.
At that time, one of the few public padel venues in Dubai hosted a competition, which someone dropped out of. Sandy took his place – and won the tournament. On the day of the final, his suitcases were by the side of the court ready to dash for his flight back to the UK. But on the journey to the airport, he received a phone call from the Crown Prince of Dubai, who had watched the final. He offered Sandy a job as Head of Racquet Sports at the NAS Sports Complex.
NAS had five padel courts, as well as squash, badminton and other facilities – but no tennis courts. Taking the job would mean a total career switch for Sandy. “I was leaving behind everything I knew,” he says.
“Winning that final wasn’t really a reflection of my ability, the general level in Dubai was just really low – I must emphasise that! But transferring into padel was a big leap.”
But Sandy dived into padel head-first, receiving an expert crash course in the sport from the very best. He spent many months in Spain with Fernando ‘Bela’ Belasteguín, Pablo Lima and ‘the Godafther of Padel’ Horacio Clementi – all legends now, but much more accessible a decade ago to a rookie Brit learning the trade.
Sandy soon started coaching at a decent level and was selected to play for Great Britain. In Dubai, he ran tournaments, coached the UAE padel team and personally coached HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum.
But still padel remained virtually unheard of outside Spain. Sandy recalls: “People were saying to me, ‘What are you doing in this hobby sport that no-one had heard of?’ I thought to myself, ‘Have I made a wrong move here?'”
But as we know, padel – at first gradually, but now rapidly – has grown immensely and Sandy has no regrets leaving tennis behind.
In 2019, he founded The Padel School with brother Tom (who after reaching the ATP top 400, has now also pivoted to padel). As well as hosting coaching clinics and workshops at padel clubs all over the world, The Padel School now has arguably the sport’s best online platform and social media content, catering for all aspects of the game and all levels of player.
“The idea started around eight years ago when I realised I was repeating myself in my lessons so I started making content for my players and putting it on YouTube,” explains Sandy. “I’d been correcting certain things in people’s games for years, so it gave me a lot of confidence making the videos as I knew the tips would help people.”
The Padel School app now has a whole suite of high-quality, well produced coaching content which is tailored to each user’s level and has structured courses on different aspects of the game.
“I felt that during my and my brother’s junior tennis careers we didn’t get much guidance – and that has partly motivated The Padel School,” says Sandy. “We wanted to create a place where players can learn in a logical way and offer them 360 degree support.”
The Padel School is helping to raise padel playing standards in the UK, but – now in his 13th year in the sport – Sandy has enough experience to know how long it takes to make that step up to world class infrastructure.
Great Britain only has around 350 courts, no regional or national junior team, structure or rankings and no players in the world’s top 100. “We’ve got some catching up to do, for sure, but we must be patient,” urges Sandy.
“It’s an emerging sport in the UK and it’s on everyone’s lips. There’s a real eagerness to coach and play at the top level – but we need to enjoy absorbing the sport for a little while before we get there.
“Everyone is so excited about the explosive growth of padel in the UK, yet we’re still sitting on 350 courts. Most European countries have 10 times that and they’re good facilities, not just some outdoor courts at a tennis club.
“People must realise that to reach a high level you need volume over many years. Even Andy Murray would take years to convert and be competitive. People might be the best in the bubble at their club, but that next level takes a significant time. We’ll get there.”
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