Archive note: this article reflects a focused training trip from 2022. The camp availability and booking details originally included in the article are no longer presented as current offers.
Spend a Week with Sandy and See Enormous Progress
I recently returned from my trip to California and I have to say; I had a wonderful time. Not only did I enjoy myself immensely, I saw incredible progress with most of the players I coached throughout the week.
It’s true that padel is a sport you can only truly master over time, but short intensive trainings focused on the basics of padel have the power to accelerate learning at a rapid pace. One of the most fulfilling parts of coaching and helping players to improve their game is seeing improvement over a short period, and I saw my fair share on this trip.
California is beautiful, but Zenyara, the luxury villa where we trained, shattered my wildest expectations. The accommodations were incredible, the grounds breathtaking, and the brand new padel court was dialed in to perfection.
Throughout the first day, we had two sessions during which we covered all the basics of padel. Taking these first steps might not be as exciting as developing a killer kick smash, learning how to slice a clean vibora deep into a corner, or finally returning a ball from outside the court, but mastering the basics spurs the highest level of improvement in the shortest amount of time.
I covered serving and returns, how to defend off the back and side glass, the importance of preparation for every shot in padel, the bandeja, basic padel tactics and much more.
I only spent one day at this court before moving onto Beverly Hills, but I saw loads of improvement already in just the short time I worked with the players.
For the rest of the trip, we continued to do multiple sessions per day to master the basics, but eventually we moved on to match-play points to put what we learned into practice. I encouraged players to have fun and play hard, but to do their best to focus on improving what they just learned.
Implementing new techniques learned from coaching sessions into a game is one of the hardest parts of improving your game. You need to put it into a game scenario at some point, and this is why I typically end training sessions with match points. I watch closely and provide in-game feedback to help players improve in the moment.
After every intense training camp, I would send a video summary of the experience to the participants in order to summarise the learning. The goal was for players to continue to improve long after the training finished.
The key lesson from the trip still applies: focused training, clear objectives and enough repetition can help players turn coaching ideas into habits much faster than simply playing more matches.
For current ways to develop your game with The Padel School, explore our player pathways or contact the team.
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