Ambitious student George Modler has organised the UK’s first university padel competition.
George, who is in his third year studying business at the University of Bristol, only took up padel in April this year. Obsession quickly took hold and he has now set up Golden Point Padel UK to fill gaps he has noticed in the padel events market.
One of those is an inter-university padel tournament which will take place at Padel4All Lockleaze in Bristol on Wednesday 15 November.
The competition will include eight universities who can enter two pairings each. Teams can be men’s, women’s or mixed and any standard.
Leeds, Oxford Brookes, Plymouth, Plymouth Marjon, Exeter and Bath are expected to be among the initial entrants, with padel societies or individuals from all those universities already expressing strong interest.
A second university event is being lined up for the New Year or spring, potentially at the Padel United courts at the Plymouth Marjon University campus.
The University of Bristol have already thrown themselves fully into the concept. They have organised a mini tournament and will put forward the winners and runners-up as their representatives in the Golden Point university competition.
The universities competition will be Golden Point Padel UK’s third event, with its first taking place next weekend (Saturday 14 October) at Padel4All Lockleaze. The sold-out event will feature 32 players in four groups of four pairs and is already awash with sponsors: AEON Padel, Zooki, Speedway Padel, PickPad, YesMate Tea and Padel Corner.
On 4 November, Golden Point is running a ladies’ competition for 16 players, also at Lockleaze, with only a handful of places left.
George launched Golden Point Padel UK in August having been bitten by the bug since moving from Stratford on Avon to study in the padel haven of Bristol. The city has the UK’s biggest club, Rocket Padel, as well as Surge Padel, We Are Padel and Padel4All Lockleaze.
“I’d never played racket sports before I came here – I’d always been just a football person,” George tells The Padel Paper. “I played padel in late April for the first time and haven’t played football since. I play padel at least every other day.
“I went travelling around Europe in summer and played padel in Amsterdam, Budapest and Prague. It’s now my sport. As soon as I started playing, I noticed so many gaps. I’m now trying to fill those gaps with Golden Point Padel.
“LTA tournaments are very much, ‘Turn up, play padel, leave’ which is good if that’s what you want, but I’m trying to diversify it. Our events will be a bit more social, so you can play against a variety of people and not have to pack your bags if you lose the first game. The first round is always a group format, so everyone is guaranteed a minimum of four matches.”
Four more information, go to gppadel.co.uk or follow Golden Point Padel UK on Instagram and LinkedIn.
