I will tell you about my experience last weekend. I am part of a team from Valencia that plays in the category of veterans +35. This year the VETERANAS SPANISH CHAMPIONSHIP, organized by  Federación Española de Pádel, was played in Badajoz … about 8 hours drive from my house (little thing).

We leave in the morning and arrive at the hotel at 6:30 pm. There is always a motivational team meeting and it is usually where the captain tells us the lineup that will go on court later. In the Championships organized by the Padel Spanish Federation the first round decides if you go to the semifinals or play the relegation.

In veterans couples are ordered by age. The first has to add 75 years between the ages of the two players, point two 80 years, three 85, four 90 and five 95 years. There are teams that have no problem to form pairs, but in our case, we had many young players who did not add up almost. 

Our first match was especially tough this time. We were playing against the Barcelona Tennis Club. We were not the favorites, but we knew that this year in particular we had a team to compete in any tie. And we did. We won the decisive point in the third set. It was Lucia and Anouk and they did it with a lot of authority.

The next day we had the semifinals ahead of us, if you win this match you are already in the final and you have the championship or runner-up, if you lose in the semis your team is relegated to oblivion. NOBODY REMEMBERS THE SEMIFINALISTS. The third place is not even played anymore.

DILEMA:

When the captains consider the different phases of a competition, there is always the doubt of whether to take to the court WHAT YOU BELIEVE IS YOUR BEST TEAM or, or on the contrary MAKE THE WHOLE TEAM PLAY. I think there is no good answer and it depends on many factors, if it is the selection of your community or country or if on the contrary it is a group of amateur friends, if the weaker players go to the trip or the championship knowing that it is possible that they will not play, if you can risk any point, if you know the opponents well… Many times the weaker players go in a point and try to play against the strongest point of the opposing team. Although here comes into play a little bit of chance.

It is a very complicated issue and one of the reasons why I would not like to be captain. Because there are few realistic players and we ALL ABSOLUTELY ALL WANT TO PLAY.

Our second game against a club from Madrid, was also 3 – 2 but the points won were a little less suffered.

And we were already in the BIG FINAL. We had never reached this stage, it was a privilege that normally only TEAMS FROM BARCELONA and MADRID held. I don’t know how long ago Chamartín won this Championship. We played against FITPOINT from Mallorca, and their captain was an old friend of mine from underage paddle in Argentina…and I was especially excited to play against them. They also had a young team and many new players for veterans. They did very well and beat us 6-4 7-6 in the deciding point which this time was played by point two.

All team experiences are good or teach us lessons. They TEACH us to be aware of our limitations, to be more humble, they teach us that a team is inside, but also outside the court. Those who coach, those who fetch the water, those who travel as companions, those who think up the line-ups. We learn to share, to suffer off the court, to bear the pressure when you know that your game decides the playoffs.



In team tournaments we laugh, have fun and share a lot. And this is what padel and life is all about, isn’t it? special moments with special people.

Natalia Laudelino