DESIGNING COMPETITION THAT PLAYERS WANT TO BELONG TO

Competitions that cater for all players – whatever their level, background or individual reason for playing padel – are a great way to develop an engaged network of regular players. Sam Kemp from R3 Sport highlights how, for clubs and court operators, events can be effective community creators

Thanks to padel’s rapid participation growth and courts being built at pace, many operators are now well past the initial challenge of attracting players to their venue. The challenge has now become ensuring that they retain and engage these players and make them part of the padel community. Competition is core to the sports success and remains one of the most effective and widely used tools available to clubs. However, having worked across multiple venues and events, one of the most common mistakes that clubs are still making is believing that competitions start with a tournament.

In truth, the success of a tournament can sometimes be decided before the entries have even opened. The foundations of competition are less related to match formats and results and more about social connection, community and trust.

Creating the conditions for competition

For many players, particularly those new to the sport, competition is not intimidating because of standard or ability. It is intimidating because of uncertainty. Internal monologue such as ‘Who will I play with?’, ‘Will I fit in?’, ‘Will I feel out of place?’ ‘Will I enjoy it?’ plays on repeat as their finger hovers over the enter button.

I have experience of venues delivering consistently well run weekly competitions but struggling to grow beyond the same familiar group of players. The tournament was full, and from the outside looked very successful, yet new faces rarely appeared and it had limited impact on the atmosphere and feeling at the club.

The venues that succeed don’t alter the playing level or structure of the competition, but instead address the environment around it. Crystal clear communication about who the event is aimed at, a relaxed arrival process and supporting players to connect with others from the club before stepping onto court. This leads to new players trying competition through socialising, new members being introduced to competitive opportunities from the beginning and a club event that truly brings the community together in a safe and welcoming manner.

The lesson is the competition works best when players feel part of the community and trust the environment before they test themselves within it.

Designing competition as a journey, not a moment

The most effective competition programmes treat competition as a journey rather than a single event. Opportunities are varied, entry points are clear, progression is layered and players are not pigeon holed or rushed to move along.

People

Venues that achieve this best, consistently position socialising and community alongside competition. New players are bought into competitive opportunities from the beginning - using competition to meet new players where partners are rotated regularly and results are secondary.

From here, they offer a wide range of competition to cater for players of all abilities offering players the opportunity to progress as they become more comfortable not just with the sport, but with each other.

Larger, more structured competitions often follow from player demand and interest in competing in, and spectating, competitions of a higher level. When competitions become more ingrained, the community will better understand (and increasingly ask for) competitive environments.

Competition, when designed properly, doesn’t push players forward. It allows them to move at their own pace.

When the community takes ownership

Truly successful competition comes when events stop feeling like something organised by the venue and starts feeling like something owned by the community.

Non-participants coming to watch, players arriving early and staying late, conversations about competition extend beyond the court. Promotion of events happens organically rather than needing to be driven by staff.

This is when competition becomes more than just a sporting activity. It becomes the social anchor of the venue. The community is built around it and it keeps the community thriving.

Competition, when designed properly, doesn’t push players forward. It allows them to move at their own pace

This change also impacts the engagement of partners and sponsors. Carefully selected, commercial involvement can feel natural, with brands not just buying into a format but into a community that is engaged and invested.

Competition as culture

Competition will always be central to sport. For padel, however, one of its greatest values lies in its ability to bring people together rather than set them apart. When competition is placed at the heart of a venue and treated as a cultural tool, built on trust, understanding and shared ownership, it becomes one of the most effective ways to create a sustainable, engaged community.

The clubs that succeed long-term will not necessarily be those running the biggest tournaments (although of course there is very much a place for this within the community), but those that understand that competition does not start with a tournament and end with a winner. It starts with people.