For trailblazing ladies Vanesa Gonzalez and Erin Purtle, padel isn’t only a sport—it’s a catalyst for neighborhood, confidence, and connection. And so they’re not slowing down.
Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 7 March 2025 | Sarah Dyce
Padel, one of many fastest-growing sports activities worldwide, is gaining momentum in Australia.
Throughout this month and this Worldwide Ladies’s Day, Tennis Australia is celebrating trailblazing ladies like Vanesa and Silvia Gonzalez-Quinones, Erin Purtle and Catarina Segorbe, who should not solely pioneering women-owned padel amenities but in addition empowering a brand new technology of gamers and entrepreneurs within the sport.
Gonzalez didn’t anticipate to be a pioneer for padel in Western Australia. However when she and her sister Silvia Gonzalez-Quinones opened Padel Perth in 2020, they did simply that.
What started as a shared ardour between the 2 in Madrid in the course of the early Nineteen Nineties has remodeled right into a thriving hub for padel lovers in Perth.
“We have been lacking it a lot,” Gonzalez displays. “Padel was at all times a part of our lives. My sister mentioned, ‘Why don’t we create a membership?’”
Gonzalez-Quinones’ imaginative and prescient and willpower have been instrumental in bringing the membership to life, however constructing the primary padel facility in Western Australia was something however straightforward.
In a world the place ladies’s management in sport remains to be underrepresented, the Gonzalez sisters’ journey stands as a testomony to resilience and imaginative and prescient.
Gonzalez, a single mom going via a profession shift, confronted the problem of introducing a sport that the majority Australians had by no means heard of.
“I needed to create one thing I used to be enthusiastic about,” she says. “I spent three years with no earnings, however devoted every little thing to constructing the enterprise and talking to anybody who’d hear.”
After 5 years of planning, Padel Perth opened its doorways simply two weeks earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic pressured them to close once more.
“It was devastating. We had poured every little thing into making this occur, and immediately, we couldn’t open the doorways.” Gonzalez recollects.
However, she continued, and when restrictions eased, the urge for food for padel grew to become clear.
“Evenings have been totally booked nearly instantly. Folks have been able to play, and that power stored us going,” she says.
“Now, we’ve been open 5 years. It’s unbelievable.”
For Gonzalez, the membership is about extra than simply the game; it’s about neighborhood.
“When our facility flooded in our second yr, the neighborhood got here with out us asking. Folks simply confirmed as much as assist,” she says. “It’s greater than a membership; it’s some extent of connection.”
That connection is especially robust amongst ladies.
Whereas padel globally nonetheless sees a male-dominated participant base, Gonzalez has created a welcoming area for girls. “I used to be teaching and working socials, and ladies have been drawn to that,” she says.
“Our mornings are dominated by ladies—they’ve created their very own teams and preserve coming again.”
Throughout the nation in Albury, NSW, Purtle confronted an identical dilemma when coming back from Spain. She couldn’t think about life with out padel, however with solely three golf equipment in Australia on the time, choices have been restricted.
“It was both transfer close to a padel membership or construct my very own,” Purtle mentioned.
“We couldn’t make it work financially in locations like Melbourne or Sydney, so we regarded regional. Two years down the observe, I’m actually proud of our determination.”
The Sol Padel neighborhood has turn into a tight-knit, family-oriented group in Albury.
“We don’t have the variety of a significant metropolis, however you see everybody rising collectively,” she noticed.
“I believe ladies are drawn to the social facet of it. Padel is straightforward to select up, and as soon as they fight it, they love how enjoyable and welcoming it’s. It’s not nearly competitors; it’s about connection.
“Our gender cut up is about 55 per cent ladies, however after I attend tournaments, it’s a unique story. It’s extra 80 per cent males and solely 20 per cent ladies.”
Purtle believes structural adjustments are key to growing feminine participation.
“Small adjustments assist break down boundaries for girls competing,” she defined. “When tournaments assure totally different classes, we see extra ladies becoming a member of,”
For Gonzalez and Purtle, padel isn’t only a sport—it’s a catalyst for neighborhood, confidence, and connection. And so they’re not slowing down.
As Gonzalez places it: “We’ve come up to now, however there’s nonetheless a lot potential. I need to see extra ladies stepping onto the court docket and feeling empowered by this recreation.”
As these ladies proceed to interrupt new floor, they’re proving there’s by no means been a greater time for girls to step onto the court docket.
Their work embodies the spirit of Worldwide Ladies’s Day—accelerating motion towards a world the place gender equality in sport isn’t only a purpose, however a actuality.
To search out out extra about padel, go to Padel Australia.
That is Half I of two tales celebrating ladies in padel. Keep tuned for Half II later this month…
