Africa Padel Sports Director Jackie Booth voiced her call for more ladies and youth Padel competitions to roll out in South Africa and praised the Padel4Good brand for the work it does.
Attending an elite women's tournament at the Virgin Active Padel Centre in Paarden Eiland today, the highly respected tennis and padel personality competed against some of the Western Cape’s top players (rated between 2.5 and 5 on the PlayTomic App) in the final leg of the Padel4Good double-header show which kicked off with a men’s event on Friday evening.
Making her Padel4Good debut, Booth and her partner showcased their skill, experience, and poise to advance to the knockout stages before exiting the 16-team (32 players) event, which included a round-robin format.
It might not have been the fairy-tale start to her Padel4Good campaign, but Booth showed her appreciation as another event helped close the gap between the number of men's and women's tournaments.
“We still have a way to go before there’s some equality regarding the men’s and women’s offerings," says Booth.
"So if there’s a tournament on offer, we’ll jump in there and try to represent,” referring to herself and her regular partner, Lucinda Gibbs, who could not be present at today’s show.
“I think the Padel4Good show is brilliant. I might not be playing with my regular partner, but I am here to support the initiative. The fact that this is a women’s initiative is fantastic. The level of competition and camaraderie is awesome to see. We need more initiatives like this.”
Sporting charity Padel4Good launched its first event early last year to create an environment for the fastest-growing sport to thrive while using the proceeds to assist NPOs and homes that care for women and children.
The brand hosts roughly 12 events annually. Today’s show marked Padel4Good’s first-ever elite women’s competition and the seventh women's show for the year, emphasizing Padel4Good's commitment to providing opportunities for all.
Booth and Gibbs have also been proactive in carving out opportunities for women within the sport as they helped roll out the “North vs South” event.
“The ‘North vs South’ event was a strictly women’s event that we (Africa Padel) thought would be nice to put together. It was 12 of our top ladies from the Western Cape area traveling to Johannesburg to compete against their top 12 ladies. We’ve been doing this for two years now and it’s been an exceptional field of quality players from the ladies' game which I think has shown how the women’s game has improved. We will continue to grow with more exposure like this.
“What I’d also like to see is more youth coming through the game. If we can promote the youth more, and get them involved, look at ways to create a more competitive pathway for the sport, and hopefully the Olympics in the next round.”
Booth also highlighted that a proper structure and ranking system is imperative to the sport's growth.
“There is a SAPA (South African Padel Association) group that has come together, but not much is happening on that side,” said Booth.
“Padel Sport has a very social aspect to it, so within our player's pyramid, you only have a small number at the top. We must cater to the market while building the sport into a competitive arena with a proper ranking system. We have the brains and people to do so and if we can implement this then we can send talented athletes overseas and put South Africa on the map on the competitive side, as well,” concluded Booth.
IOL Sport