The birth of Fast4padel

July 2021, the aftermath of the pandemic, which hit London hard (especially industries and areas like entertainment and the arts) saw me (Victor) having something that is a rarity in London: extra time on my hands. Combined with a desire to connect with people in a city that wasn’t home, an interest in padel (partly coming from my upbringing in Malaga and partly from its proximity and novelty in London), and a girlfriend who wanted to start playing yet feared and saw the practical barriers of organising and facing strangers on court, an embryotic concept emerged. The basic tenets of this boiled down to three words: play, rotate, connect. These three simple words became the fundament of what would subsequently become Fast4padel.

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In hindsight, it’s hard to pinpoint or speak about significant milestones, as this started from those three humble words and what they meant to me personally, but the virgin voyage of this journey saw 6 people get on one court with the purpose of playing, rotating, and connecting. It was followed by a restaurant visit and ultimately fulfilled its purpose. This fairly simple event setup became something to build upon and hit the right note in appealing to people who had the same interest in creating meaningful connections revolving around padel. Some of those early participants have become long-term friendships and even mentorship(s), notably, Michael and Deepak (now involved in Fast4padel) were two of these early adopters and participants who would become friends (and in the case of Michael, a mentor in London). Ultimately, people seemed appreciative of the organisation in their otherwise time-constrained London lives and the concept of play, rotate, and connect spread in practice.

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The community grew primarily via Whatsapp and Facebook communities (with hundreds of members) and fortnightly social events/competitions such as americanos, mexicanos and round robins, primarily in and around west London (Chiswick and NTC). It was during one of these socials the paths between us (Victor and Nico) crossed, as Nico won the social tournament, and he would – as time would tell – become a pivotal part in what Fast4padel would become. These more regular fixtures were complemented by day trips to other clubs and areas such as Stratford (which isn’t that far) and more notably Southend, where arrangements would be made with the hosting club to arrange friendly yet competitive matches followed by more socially focused activities such as eating together.