From left: Ben Gudzulak, Martin Calvert, Paul Jepson and Nick Holloway – all G4P Huddersfield and Yorkshire players who also play for Team GB Seniors.
Following Natalie’s exciting news (previous blog), and not to be outdone – Nick Holloway (above right), G4P Head Coach at Huddersfield LTSC, has been asked to Co-Captain the Great Britain Seniors team for the FIP World Championships in Spain next month with close friend and long standing padel partner Ben Gudzulak.
Nick has been a regular on the GB Men’s Senior Team – playing several times before at this level. (The first Senior GB Team (35+) picked to play internationally was in 2018.)
The very first padel courts in the UK were built at Huddersfield Lawn Tennis & Squash Club in Edgerton in 2010/11 – the Chair of the Tennis Club, Peter Vann, being one of the instrumental players in introducing the sport to the area – and the UK. The club came under the Game4Padel umbrella (literally) in 2021 when we added canopies to the courts.
Yorkshire now has some 14 padel centres and 40 courts across the county with more on the way, and this short but pioneering history of padel in the area means that Yorkshire now has a pool of experienced players to compete at county level – a good number of whom also represent their country at national level.
Their Women's Senior Team (below left) captained by Sally Fisher, recently won the Over-50 UK Padel County Championships in Bristol, while the Yorkshire Men's Senior Team (below right) coached by Nick Holloway, were narrowly beaten into first place by a strong Surrey team.
For the FIP World Championships, five Huddersfield players have been selected for the GB Senior Team: Natalie Gill, Nick Holloway, Ben Gudzulak, Paul Jepson and Mike Tolman. (Martin Calvert was also invited but unable to go due to work.) We wish all of the Huddersfield players – and especially our G4P coaches, Nick and Natalie, the very best of luck!
Be encouraged. This is a new sport. If you enjoy competition, you never know where padel might take you!
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