Pep’s Empowering talk

September 10, 2024
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Join Empower, the UK’s new padel network for women.

The name Empower Padel says everything you need to know about about Pep Stonor’s new initiative, which aims to drive female participation in padel. Emma Kimber, Founding Editor of The Bandeja, talks to Pep to find out more.

 

Pep Stonor is a women on a mission, a mission to get as many girls and women engaged with sport via the ultra inclusive and social game of padel as it takes the UK (and world) by storm.

The effervescent Australian, who may well have one of the biggest and most exclusive black books in the industry, has already established herself as a pioneer of the women’s game in her adopted country after importing the Swedish Femme Open tournament franchise to the UK.

Femme Open UK – aided and abetted by Pep’s ability to organise sell-out tournaments in clubs ranging from The Padel Hub in Slough to The Hurlingham Club in London – quickly established itself as a force to be reckoned with and demonstrated the need for female-specific events mixing (reasonably relaxed) competition with networking and socialising.

Empower Padel founder Pep Stonor.

Now, some two years and several dozen events later, Pep has branched out and launched Empower Padel, an organisation committed to driving forward women’s grassroots padel participation in the UK, with plans for tournaments throughout the country delivered by Pep supported by a network of Empower ambassadors all committed to getting us girls on court regardless of age or ability. 

“Empower Padel is really about getting as many women as possible back to sport, or playing sport again, through padel because it is so inclusive and is such a social sport. I’ve loved seeing the joy of women engage in sport again but also just find their tribe and meet other like-minded women,” said Pep, who represented Australia at the FIP Seniors Padel World Championship in Las Vegas in 2022 and again in Alicante earlier this year, played in the first iPadel league finals and the first HOP tournament despite it being men only at that point.

The first Empower event was a sell-out and set The Padel Hub in Slough abuzz over the weekend. The venue hosted 32 players who enjoyed the skills of GB Seniors padel player Steph Trill on the DJ decks plus a student from Beaconsfield Film School capturing the event on film.

“I am super excited about getting as many women onto court as possible. If they end up meeting other women they can play with then my job is done. If they end up competing even better. 
 
– Pep Stonor, Founder, Empower Padel

Inspiration

The name Empower is, Pep explained, inspired by encouraging women to start playing sport or return to it, empowering them and encouraging them to learn a new skill, to train, to enter competitions and be ‘the best version of themselves’ by giving them the skills to achieve that. 

“Padel is a very social sport so that is great for a start,” said Pep. “A number one thing for well-being is relationships and the ability to see our friends. To be able to play a team sport as well, on court as a pair usually, is fabulous and the women enjoy the social element, which has been really important for us.”

Scaling Empower

Pep’s next move is to mobilise her network of ‘amazing women’ to roll-out tournaments large and small, as she explained: “We want to scale this and empower the amazing ambassadors we have to run their own events and encourage more women to play padel. That is part of Empower’s vision. We have women all over the UK who love padel but also genuinely want to see my vision of passing on that love to other women, encouraging them to get back to sport. A part of Empower is to help those women be able to do this at their local padel centres.

“And enthusiasm is infectious, right? So once you start with these amazing women spreading their love of padel I am sure other women will come forward and help as well because we should all be trying to lift each other up.”

This support will extend to supporting women with the basics of padel, from what equipment you need, to what to wear, how to use booking apps etc. 

 I would say to women be fearless, you can do it and actually competition is where you really learn where you need to improve your game.


– Pep Stonor

Mixed in the mix

But don’t expect just padel from Empower (or solely female events, there’s a plan to have a limited number of mixed tournaments). Networking events, padel holidays and coaching clinics are also in the mix and Pep has her eye on bringing issues such as the number of women leaders in the sport to the fore, in part inspired by an International Women’s Day event she held last year at The Hurlingham Club. 

She said: “Sometimes it is good to come off court and discuss issues in padel. One of the most powerful things about the International Women’s Day event we did was the panel of three extraordinary women – Gigi Salmon, anchor for Sky tennis; Sophie Bray, Olympic gold medallist and Tia Norton, top GB player. All of these women gave fascinating insights into their journeys and how they came into sport. At the time I thought wow, this is really gold dust, we should have recorded this so I’d love to do it to a wider audience. 

“One of the questions we were asked from the audience came from Sandy Procter, who was there as the President of the LTA. She asked the panellists what leadership roles any of them had thought about in sport and I think that is a really key question we should be addressing because the leadership of padel really needs a lot more women at the top,” added Pep.

But back to padel, its ability to engage all ages and fit in with the day-to-day responsibilities shouldered by many women, including childcare and caring commitments. “What other sport can you do once you leave school?” asked Pep. “It can be very difficult to carry on with netball and hockey, very few women play golf and it takes a long time. Padel fits well.”

Be fearless

The success of Femme Open and Empower Padel tournaments has bucked the trend of women being reticent about entering competitions and Pep is well-aware that reservations remain for many: “Not wanting to do competitions is very unique to women. Gender inequity starts at a very young age, age five years. So most of us are unaware that we don’t inherently like to compete… you can see it in the competitions where there are draws of 64 for men and 20 for women. I would say to women be fearless, you can do it and actually competition is where you really learn where you need to improve your game, so treat it as trying to improve your own level, use it as your own personal goal rather than thinking about trying to beat someone else. It is just a vehicle to getting better and you get a really good thrill of having been on court, trying to challenge and overcome it.”
 
That word – level. It’s a hot topic in the padel world with different measures of player levels and, for the most part, ‘self-certification’ of ability. Depending upon who you speak with the system works well or women downgrade their own ability. It’s definitely an angst inducing subject for many female players so how does Pep manage players of different abilities registering for her tournaments?

“We have three levels – c (new starter or just getting in to it); B – intermediates (low and high, good rallies) and A – playing at top club level/iPadel leagues or having played seniors level tennis or squash,” she said. “But not to worry too much because it is padel!”

Generally each tournament will see players categorised into appropriate groups, allowing all participants to enjoy good games and, most importantly, have fun and enjoy their Empower time. Formats differ from event to event and include round robins, group play-offs and Americanos, which are especially popular because players do not need to find a partner. 
 
In conclusion Pep said: “I think I am super excited about getting as many women onto court as possible. If they end up meeting other women that they can regularly play with then my job is done. If they end up competing even better. But it is not for all women to compete, it is not a problem if they don’t want to. But the most important thing is forming a network of women that can all help each other and not just on court, off court as well. It is kind of like a club really, it is an Empower Padel club. 🎾

 

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