'Special Envoy' to the José Martínez Memorial, our colleague Daniel Gamarra Peñalver has had the opportunity to speak and learn more about one of the great references of the Cantabrian pádel ... One of those great protagonists in 'the shadow' that deserves the worth discovering
Padel World Press .- With only 25 years, Luis Saiz and his partner, Jorge Ruiz, won last season all the Federated Tournaments of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria, which was consolidated for the fourth consecutive year as the undisputed 1 number of his homeland.
When he was just a child, at only 6 years old, Luis started playing tennis in Soto de la Marina, a town in Santa Cruz de Bezana (near Santander). Shortly after, at 12, he decided to change the racket for the shovel and began to receive paddle tennis classes from Gustavo Pratto at the Monteverde Club.
According to Luis, it was Pratto who encouraged him to start competing in this sport and, listening to his coach, decided to start his career as a player in some tests of the Dunlop Circuit. Later, seeing that the paddle was not bad, he signed up for the Spanish Junior Championships and the Sub'14 and Sub'18 World Championships, in which he achieved excellent results.
At present, Luis trains from Monday to Friday under the command of the great Willy Lahoz, of whom he assured: "He is a real star and a very nice person." And, for him, Willy is not only his coach and his friend: he is his idol, whom he considers a paddle legend. “As a coach, Willy is different from the rest. He places a lot of emphasis on the technical and we work very little with the car. We almost always do it with a live ball, with 3 or 4 balls. Every time we technically do something wrong, Willy stops the game and explains the hit and our mistakes in detail. He is a true genius "
In our talk, Luis told us that last season was not bad for him, as he had many successes in his homeland and in Bilbao. However, in the WPT Circuit he did not manage to reach the Preliminary Rounds as in previous years. Unfortunately for him, he lost in the last phase of the Pre-qualifiers that he played, after several very tight tie breaks… Despite this, Luis is not discouraged. He is aware that in sport, as in life, sometimes you win and other times you learn.
Looking ahead to 2016, Luis will play the Professional Circuit with Fran Abellaneda, together with whom he hopes to reap great successes and reach the goal of reaching the Preliminary Qualifiers and, why not, a Final Draw.
As Daniel Gamarra Peñalver pointed out: "From Padel World Press we wish you a season full of successes and joys, Luis. You deserve them, warrior. "
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