Another paddle, more paddle, better paddle, more horizontal, more vertical, before, with shortcuts, solutions, reinvented, more ... These are some of the reflections that, three years ago, Miguel Matía left us when talking about P @del 3.0 and its present-future.
Padel World Press .- It has been a long time since the day we first saw this article. At the time it caught our attention and, after living in the Estrella Damm Masters Finals we wanted to dig it out of the trunk of memories to, with perspective, see which of the things that Miguel Matía told us in his day have been fulfilled and which ones have not. .
If you like paddle tennis, this is one of those recommended and almost compulsory readings ... ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Enjoy it!
"Some time ago I wanted to cover this issue of P @ del 3.0 and in this installment, as in the previous ones, my ideas are piled up and the script is messed up but there are too many signs that, inescapable, turn my attention almost from constant form.
Before going into the matter, it would be good to explain the obvious: what was and what the Padel 1.0 and 2.0 are. To summarize, I could select countless markers to support the evolution of the paddle. Number of players-federated, type of game, money-business, evolution, surfaces, capacity of diffusion, state bets, initiation, professionalism, brands, federative organs, etc. they could be points indicating their actuality, past and future.
Another way to analyze the evolution of the paddle would be the feeling and constant sensations that it transmits to its players, practitioners and professionals but, surely, these sensations would not be anything other than the constant perception of what was indicated previously. In short we can make a statistical analysis and let ourselves be guided by the accuracy of the numbers and we can also apply the heat of the sensations.
In both cases the padel evolves so fast that immersed in his car we could ignore the speed and the deep weight that moves and for that reason it is necessary that we cast an eye through the window and perceive by contrast the unstoppable movement.
If we accept the Padel 1.0 as that elite movement of the 'snob' game-sport that the Spanish high society practiced in a few places, we talked about the 1980, we accept that barely practiced in places other than the most exquisite clubs, the training was therefore tight to small groups with sufficient economic capacity and the practitioners grew attending to the social reasons more than to the sport ones.
Presidents through, the padel manages to attract certain trademarks that, as if the Polo or the Golf were trying to identify their products with a specific target audience. All this added to the benefits of the new game and the ease of its facilities, to the little physical demand and the lack of investment in material by the practitioner manage to implement the paddle as usual among the 'pija' people of the most important cities and therefore attract the attention of the rest. So things, the paddle begins to be desired as we want a concrete pole or jeans, almost more for what you saw us than for what it is.
It is here that the sport itself surpasses itself and shows that it is much more than a passing fad and, of course, it is not a car brand or a nice shirt or a minor sport. Private circuits proliferate, any self-respecting tennis club starts to build its tracks and Argentine brands and some Spanish pioneers begin to find more and more buyers. The national and international championships are accommodated and the great pioneer country, Argentina, begins to turn its gaze towards Spain.
We could be whole pages defining the beginning of the paddle but, first of all, I am not the right person to do it because of my youth and the lack of perspective and, secondly, it is not the objective of this column. Therefore, the summary is that the markers such as number of practitioners, type of game, facilities and investment could be valid notes of the evolution.
Attending this, the paddle begins an unprecedented sporting revolution in our country. The number of practitioners experiences a sustained exponential growth, the amount of facilities goes up to the investment of city councils and their public sports spaces, private brands proliferate without ceasing and access to training, practice and improvement of the game extends to anyone with desire to approach this sport-game. It is at this point where I believe that the 2.0 Paddle begins
Thanks to the growth of the business, coaches and players begin to see a fantastic exit and undertake the search for improvement and evolution. Although the sport is very far between professionals and amateurs, the transition from the padel of a game to a sport (expression copied from Jorge Martínez) begins to develop and transform its rules and its surface, tracks such as those of Tenis-Quick and the 'by 3' appear. Each time there is more glass and less wall, the 'peak' is smaller, you start playing from below, you evolve and the ball is lifted, the players begin to suffer more and are no longer necessarily the 'Kings' of this sport and the explosion of the marks is total around a cake that does not stop growing.
The formation therefore of the hand of true pioneers and visionaries like the aforementioned Jorge Martínez, Máximo Castellote, Jorge Nicolini, Gustavo Aguirre, Miguel Sciorilli, Horacio Álvarez Clementi (and many others that I will leave), based on a serious and profound study of the sport grows at a speed that even exceeds that of the federation agencies responsible for the qualification and training of the future 'technicians', although it prints a certain lack of uniformity but brings an unstoppable life of its own to something that is already one of the 5 most practiced sports of the paós. We talk about the 1995 year approximately.
The padel, as far as its game and its technical characteristics as a discipline are concerned, grows at a speed superior to that of its professional practitioners and, therefore, the approach of the amateur padel to the pro begins. Although it is a very long way and the distance is enormous this circumstance is as unstoppable as it is certain and it will be the differential fact that it will give in mass sports and in the most important sporting disembarkation along with fitness in our country in the last 30 years .
The 'solopadel' generations begin to take off their heads and in the Junior Championships, the best technicians in the world begin to appreciate new characteristics and very defined personalities among young promises that enrich the professional panorama with new strokes and playing styles. Two-handed hits, aggressive tray accelerations, different concepts of the game as a couple and the use of spaces and a host of improvements and tactical and technical nuances are beginning to be seen as part of the repertoire of the players due to everything studied and inculcated by the most qualified coaches and the logical growth of the sport in the hands of generations dedicated exclusively to paddle tennis, which from childhood, learn and generate intuitively.
We are therefore at the exact moment of the paddle. Full pavilions, municipalities devoting part of the budget of each town hall, specialized brands in the operation of the business, brands applying advanced technology in the design and manufacture of the material, first professional stars, sponsor, etc. etc. We are talking about the 2010-2011 ... Today!
I'm sure, a million things to define the exact moment of the paddle I like to call 2.0 ... But it's time to address the future, I think very hopeful, incredibly hopeful of this sport and, therefore, Paddle 3.0.
What is it since I call Pádel 3.0 and why I am sure of its implantation and its arrival. What should be the markers to attend in these coming years, where can the sport continue to grow and to what extent should it be answers that I can not give with the accuracy that I would like given that we talk about the future and that the variables are many . Living circumstances are constantly changing, but I will try to be brave and continue with the development of the above. I will try to venture into what will be the keys in the development of the paddle, on the way and the direction towards Pádel 3.0
If we continue in the story line should indicate that the 3.0 PADEL not only will be the third sport in number of members and the second in practitioners but it should be a global boom that, in 15-20 years, extend its practice among the base of solid and definitive way. We are in the 2.030 and therefore should begin to appear street tracks, facilities in schools, scholarships for minors and the reorganization of bodies responsible for their regulation and promotion among youth. The inclusion of paddle among the typical topics of physical education subjects and therefore the need for the training of qualified teachers, as well as the introduction of paddle in our sports culture.
The icons and stars must be part of the conversation between the smallest and the TV and the press will be able to offer Padel in a profitable way, supported by the broad knowledge of society and new national stars. The petition as an Olympic sport on display for a Spanish Games and new professional circuits will give an unstoppable boost to the large multinationals that have already begun to show interest and find a round business. The economic amount for professionals will vertically be distributed to coaches and technicians and this, in turn, will result in greater transmission of knowledge and obviously more professionals better prepared and a uniform regulation of the degree.
The Higher Sports Council will be forced to recognize a parallel private structure, style the Professional Football League, that exploits and encourages the development of sport and generates more attention and dedication in the media.
Paddle will therefore be an attractive form of sporting future, such as basketball, and will also obtain sufficient recognition and social attention to encourage its practice among children in any social class.
To all this we must add several generations grown only in the game that will enrich and transform their practice and who knows if their facilities, as in their day changed the line of shooting of 3 points in basketball or enlarged the goals.
It will be usual to find sports multinationals to include padel stars in their ads and clothing lines will have player names. Fans, when they go to tournaments, will know in advance the evolution or trajectory of the players, they will know what they play if they win or lose a match, they will identify with this or that player, with one brand or another, they will know the coaches, etc. , etc…
The 3.0 Paddle will know leagues between schools and will know regional circuits by autonomies with divisons ...
Anyway, it seems like a dream, right? But we are much closer than it seems to all this, there are many signs and I honestly think that it is something unstoppable ...
The other day I came from the Madrid Internationals that were held at the Caja Mágica, where I could not buy tickets at the box office because they were sold out and I was thinking about the new circuit with great prizes that a business group will start up in just a year and medium with the greatest investment ever seen and the participation of all the world's great players, with a new scholarship project for Sub'20 players, with the big sport multinationals disembarking in the Pádel, with the first more or less serious contracts, with the astonishment of seeing players like Pablo Lima and Matías Marina contributing a different and spectacularly colorful and effective padel, with the certainty of the change of the spectator towards a much wider and more democratic profile and more active and understood, with the confirmation of Out-lets of material, with the illusion of many children. I was thinking back home, after an exhausting evening with Marquitos and the students and parents of the school and after an unforgettable dinner with Carlos, Cristina and some pancakes with cream that Paddle 3.0 is something unstoppable of which I do not only want to be a spectator ... I want to be a participant and we must think about how to direct all those changes and make this wonderful sport not only a sign of Spanish identity in the world but that mass sport that is already here ... For all this, we will have to take care of final this P @ del 2.0 and prepare well the reception of P @ DEL 3.0
Where will you be when all this happens?
Miguel Matía. "
* 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 .
