The sixth edition of the Six Nations Padel Masters takes place in Cologne this weekend including the finest veterans from England, Scotland and Ireland.
Estonia, Switzerland and hosts Germany make up the six competing nations, with each fielding three pairs. Each pair must have a combined age of over 100, with no individual player permitted to be under 45.
With each country playing against the other in a tie of three matches over the best of three sets duration, if a third set is required it will be in the form of a 10-point ‘champions tie-break’.
Organised by Barry Coffey, who founded the event in 2018 and is also president of the Irish Padel Association, the Six Nations will feature a mix of keen competitiveness on court and plenty of fun.
For the first time, the Six Nations will have a headline sponsor from outside padel. Hoenen Leasing offer finance to EU-based clubs for the installation of padel courts.
From its inception as the Four Nations at Casa Padel in Paris in 2018, the event has been backed by PadelTech, with rackets.ie and Game4Padel joining the suite of other sponsors. This has allowed Barry to make the event free to enter and offer some great freebies and prizes. A stickler for sartorial smartness, Barry insists that all players must wear national team outfits and matching shorts.
For Barry, a former No.1 on the British Padel Tour who plays around Europe and the Middle East on the International Seniors Padel Tour, there is only one disadvantage to being the Six Nations tournament director.
He told The Padel Paper: “I rarely play well at the tournament as there’s so many going on in my head! Are there new balls on court three? Is lunch ready? I can’t concentrate on hitting the ball – but it’s still very exciting.
“Players tell me, ‘This is our favourite event of the year!’ and it’s hard not to get emotional about it. We seem to have achieved a mix of really hard competition on a really friendly basis. It’s all for death on the court then great social activity afterwards.”
