Laura Clergue, number 1 of the French padel and recent signing of Bullpadel, has decided to settle in our country with the aim of dedicating himself completely to professional padel. During her stay in Madrid, the gala player will tell us her experiences and her day to day through a particular 'Cuaderno de Bitácora'. Do not miss your second installment.
Padel World Press .- I hardly know where to start ... What a week full of emotions and stiffness !! To begin, I will tell you that after 11 hours of driving in the company of my best friend (merci Julie 😉), I got to my new room. Sunday night a million questions were going through my head: Who am I going to train with? What will the intensity of the workouts be like? Will I understand the instructions in Spanish? Will I be physically strong enough? I think I was a typical reaction of a girl a little stressed 😅. The only information I had available was that I had to be at the club at 10:00 am with my physical and paddle clothes.
The next morning, as on a first day of school, I kept wondering a little about what I was doing there. In the end, I quickly remembered what had led me to make this decision.
I started physical training with a personal trainer, Virginia. A communicative energy, a racing heart, excessive sweating… It was exhausting but great. That feeling of pride after a great workout has always been one of my favorite moments, and when the end goal is as clear as mine, it never lets you lose heart. Sometimes I make a little cross on my hand in the morning before going to the club to remind myself why I'm here… Let's get to work, every minute counts!
That first day, right then, I had a padel training in individual with my coach, Gaby Reca. I am incredibly lucky to work with him! Current number 28 of the WPT Ranking, he is the type of coach and person who makes the unanimity in the Circuit for his experience and professionalism. And a little bonus for me: he speaks French quite well. We try to speak most of the time in Spanish because I don't want to change habits and I want to progress in this language too… But I am lucky to be able to switch to French for a few minutes to understand what to expect. I love the learning method proposed by Gaby; He constantly encourages me and makes sure that I understand everything he asks of me. He is very patient with me and always has the right word. It makes me want to push myself every workout to make me proud. As expected, no disappointment after the first training session; I just hope the next one comes.
I put an end to my first day with dozens of tips in mind and a smile from ear to ear. Before resting, I wrote down all the recommendations they had given me. Writing things helps me integrate them. It's official, there are remains of my studies in me!
In my case, a typical training day consists of approximately 1 hour and a half of paddle and almost 2 physical hours in the mornings. This is, without a doubt, the most complicated thing, doing everything in the morning. I also got used to stretching regularly and conscientiously. I was always told that stretching is essential but I think I have not been aware of that until now. I think my body tells me that if I do not stretch, I have no chance to stand up and walk well the next morning.
From the second day of training, I had a very pleasant surprise. Tenorio tasting, 13 player of the WPT Ranking (usually trained in the Sport Center Manolo Santana, my current club), returned from Argentina. I was thrilled when I realized that I was going to share almost all of my training with her. Her presence on the court allows me to have an exceptional ball quality and pushes me to be as regular as possible so she can train seriously too. More than being a luxury training compi, he had an exceptional treatment with me since my arrival. She is a positive person, always with an exemplary attitude and a good communicative humor. Humor is something important to me and I can tell you that it is the queen of jokes. He helps me with all my papers, gives me technical advice and communication as well. He plays a very important role for me and his presence is very reassuring. She is a great player and a great person, I am delighted and proud to have her around every day. Between Gaby and Cata I think I will not be afraid, for me it's just perfect: What a great team! BULLPADEL Team 🙂.
Sometimes with Cata, we train with Martín Dantonio, a technician that I really appreciate. He is a very calm person, a very good teacher, with whom I have already learned a lot and who is very complementary with Gaby.
After two weeks, and thanks to this great team, I already feel that my game is beginning to evolve and I think much more about 'paddle' than before. It will take time for me to integrate all the information but I already feel much more comfortable… And I assure you that I sleep well after days like this!
I'm going to start my season with tournaments of the Madrid Circuit before the official start of World Paddle Tour in March and the most important tournaments in France. If everything goes well, I should start my first official matches next week.
The information about my experience of the competition, my new teammate and the continuation of my daily life, always without filter, in the next chapter!
Thanks for follow me!
See you soon,
Laura Clergue
PS: Today I was on the court with Alejandra Salazar… A dream!!
* You can follow all the news of the world of paddle in our profiles of Facebook y Twitter as well as subscribe to our Newsletter .
