Humans of Padel
Join your host Max Marsh Pickard, General Manager of Padel Art & Co founder of The Padel Outlet in a weekly entertaining dive into the world of Padel and the people involved in the industry
Humans of Padel
The Realities of Running a Padel Club with Diego Almeida General Manager of ISD Padel
What if managing a sports club meant more than just overseeing facilities and events? Discover the hidden challenges and rewards of sports club management in the racket sports world with our guest, Diego. From the grueling schedules and long hours to the surprising necessity of stepping away from the club to handle administrative tasks, Diego sheds light on the reality of being a general manager. Hear a touching story about a life-changing accident that highlights the dedication and resilience required in this field, along with insights on balancing personal pursuits like triathlon training for mental and physical well-being.
Entrepreneurship in the sports industry is not just about making profits; it's about enjoying the journey, taking calculated risks, and maintaining valuable relationships. We explore Diego's transition from a background in tennis to an unexpected yet flourishing business venture in paddle sports during the pandemic. Learn how early morning routines and physical challenges can inspire both professional growth and personal fulfillment. Through Diego’s personal stories, we see how a passion for sports, combined with strategic contacts and market demands, has led to a thriving enterprise in the UAE.
Youth sports participation is crucial for physical and mental health, and creating positive experiences in a sports club is more than just about the game. We discuss the benefits of racket sports for young minds and bodies and the importance of kids exploring different sports to find their true passion. Diego shares the intricacies of selecting and hiring the right coaches and the significance of understanding client needs to foster a community atmosphere. Additionally, we reflect on the impact of introducing alcohol at an indoor paddle club and how increased competition has enhanced customer service and community engagement. Get ready for some light-hearted banter as we plan a friendly competition, looking forward to future episodes filled with more insights and rivalries.
So, diego, you and I have the same job, Would you say it's an easy job or a hard job?
Speaker 2:It's a hard job. People think it's easy because we work with sports and I have many friends. They say, yeah, you have the best job in the world. Honestly, I cannot complain, but it's not easy as they think it is. They think we just play paddle. They think we just play all the time and we're always available to think it is. They think we just play paddle.
Speaker 1:It's true, they think we just play all the time and we're always available to play and all we want to do is play paddle. Exactly what are the misconceptions that they have about the job?
Speaker 2:I think they, as you said, they think we are available to play paddle all the time. That's the job title is entertain people playing playing paddle. But it's much more than that for us. Here we're operating almost 24 7. We open every day at 6 30 am and we close at 11, 12 or sometimes 1 am. It's a lot, a lot happening from the the hour we open until we close. A lot happening from the hour we open until we close. Different clients come in the whole day, have lessons, we have people visiting, we have kids, parents coming to bring the kids. A lot of events, corporate. So it's plus the normal daily operation that, as you know, we need to do to make things happen. I would say would say it's a, it's a daily challenge. It's not a normal job that you go and you sit down on your, on your desk and you do the same thing every day, because it's not it's true.
Speaker 1:I mean, you guys, I think we have pretty much the same opening hours from 7 am until midnight, and people expect you to be available at that time. 7 am until midnight, seven days a week yeah, it doesn't stop right. One of the things that always makes me laugh is people will send me messages like oh, I went to the club, you weren't there. Yeah, I can't be there all the time. You know, I find I get more work done as a club manager when I'm not at the club. Do you find?
Speaker 2:the same thing. Sometimes, if I have to finish a presentation or catch up on some emails, I have to go for a coffee shop or somewhere else to get things done, because once you're here, so much is happening that you cannot sit still for too long. People come in, they want to meet with you or they're missing a player. They expect you to jump in on the court and play. Plus the staff they're staff. You're always looking around to make sure everything is working well.
Speaker 1:How do you schedule your days? So what's a day in the life of Diego look like as general manager of ISD?
Speaker 2:It's funny because I take care of the racket sports in ISD, not only paddle, so under my umbrella we have tennis and table tennis now that we start beginning of the year, so I need to wear different hats, uh, every day. Plus I do my own training, as you know, I do triathlon, so my day, so do I. Yeah, so when is uh? When are we doing the next race together? Never, man.
Speaker 1:Never.
Speaker 2:So my day starts pretty early. Most of the time I wake up at 4 or 5 am, get my training done before I come to ISD. Sometimes I do double training, one in the morning, one in the evening. So pretty much I spend my whole day here in in Sport City from 5 6 am until 8 9 pm. But it's natural for me, it's, it's my back natural, though.
Speaker 1:Like is it? Why do you do triathlon, triathlon?
Speaker 2:so it's funny because two days yesterday, the day before, I had a team meeting and our table tennis coach always asked me why are you training? When he sees me here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean he just stands behind a table, right. Is it a sport? Looks easy, yeah.
Speaker 2:So he asked me why are you doing this training? So I told him the story back in 2018. I was traveling with the family. We went for a vacation in Brazil. We rent a house and I was staying like in a chalet next to the house and one night, remember December 29, I went for a, for a party, with some friends and just 15 minutes after my mom call me, please come we had an accident in the house. So basically, a guy with the quad, he just ran over the house and crashed the chalet. I was sleeping and he just stopped basically inside of the shower where I was. I was taking a shower 20 minutes before. So when I got back to the house and I saw I basically I went in shock, started crying because at that moment I'm very lucky I still have my legs, because the way it crashed it was 20 minutes before when I was taking the shower. Probably my legs would be gone or worse. Yeah, so from that day, I said you know what? I need to change something and I'm going to keep doing sports my whole life until I cannot move my legs anymore. And then, in 2020, after the pandemic, I said OK, now it's time to make a big change.
Speaker 2:Then when I start training triathlon and to be honest, I think it helped me a lot in a lot of aspects. It's a lot of commitment. No one is forcing me to do it right. Do you actually enjoy it? I enjoy it. I enjoy the training. It keeps me healthy and to keep in shape. It helps me on the paddle and on the tennis court. But the journey is what is more interesting. A lot of people ask the race day is the tough time. So no, the toughest time is the training.
Speaker 1:You've done all the work already, right, exactly.
Speaker 2:When you get to the race, it's the easiest You've got to enjoy it.
Speaker 1:I think that's important, what you said when you enjoy the journey part, it becomes a lot easier when you're not focused on the end goal. Yeah, even something as simple as this podcast, right, a lot of people have asked me like, why are you doing it? What's the goal? All right, there's no real goal to it, right? Obviously the goal is to do 100 episodes. That's the goal. But I enjoy having these conversations with people like you. Obviously, it's a different approach to triathlon. It's a lot easier, it's a lot less physical. I'm very happy with that, um, but yeah, it's the journey that's enjoyable and if you can really take enjoyment in that part, then the rest of it does come easy yeah, because a lot of people said I need to set a goal and yeah, but after that, then what you know you gotta enjoy.
Speaker 2:Of course, I don't like to wake up at four or five am. It's tough when the alarm goes on. I want to throw the phone on the wall. But once you're there, you get it done, then it's it's. It's a lot of benefit you get out of it and I think for me the main is to motivate the people that around me friends, family. I got some friends that got into triathlon or into sports doesn't need to be triathlon, but just to be more active. Some family members that they they that they start doing sports, even my parents. I made a challenge with them before 30 days before my first Ironman, half Ironman. I told them guys, you need to motivate me as well, so I challenge you to do 30 minutes exercise for 30 days. And they did. They were taking selfies, sending me photos. I think I saw pictures of your mom.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think that's my main purpose to motivate people around to help people and when they start doing they see the benefits, not only physically but mentally. Helps at work, the commitment, the schedule. You know you don't have much time to waste, you've got to be on track. Yeah, I find, obviously I don't have much time to waste. You know you gotta be on track.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I find obviously I don't do what you do, you know so when I wake up in the morning, but I wake up quite early as well and I try to do everything that I can control before people start waking up, so at least I'm ahead of the game. Yeah, you know. And then then you get reactive, because a lot of our job is very reactive. Yeah, you don't know what's going to go wrong, because ultimately, ultimately, when someone comes to you, it's genuinely not something good, it's because something's happened, something needs to be changed. So if you can get the actual work done before, then you have time to be the reactive person that you need to be and get the stuff sorted. So, backtracking a little bit how did you get into paddle?
Speaker 2:So well. I come from a tennis background and I started playing paddle here in Dubai five, six years ago in Emirates Golf Club. I think it was one of the only places we had paddle courts and the first guy I met was Tony, our friend Tony. I went there one day, started playing. I had no idea how to use the walls. I was like playing tennis, and you still do. Yeah, I got a little bit better and I started playing there some tournaments and then I met alex good friend, the infamous mexican alex so we played a. We played a tournament against each other and then the next one we played together. So I got very into a paddle and then you were always like, after the the games, we were like chatting, having coffee together and like we always wanted to do something together as a business wise. But of course it.
Speaker 2:He was super busy with Emirates and I had my full-time job with brand distribution and then during the pandemic, he left Emirates and he knew I wanted to do something more related to sports and paddle was booming, yeah, crazy, growing, crazy in 2020. And he's like Diego. I have this opportunity and that's a special message for Charlie. That's who started the company FED F-E-D. That means faith in the portes, so faith in sports. So Alex told me. He said, diego, I have this friend, he started this company, but he's not planning to come back to Dubai. Do you want to join me, or like, start something together and take over what he has started? And I said, what exactly is that? Said, oh, we can bring paddle coaches to the UAE, because at the time we didn't have the.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the demand was crazy. Anyone who could hold a racket could just come to the UAE and start coaching.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and many clubs opening, many of them the owners didn't have the contacts in Spain or Argentina or South America to bring some coaches. So I said, you know what? It's a good opportunity. And in the same time all the clubs opening they want like an exhibition match or an opening ceremony or like open tournament. So that's when we start bringing the professional players. So we just going back a little bit. I quit my job, full-time job with a basic salary, all saved, to start this journey with you and all in I told my uh, I remember I told both of the owners of the company used to work.
Speaker 2:One of them took in a in a good way, the other one not in a, in a very nice way. But after a while he understood why. And the owner, he told me something. He said look, you're young, you're single. You You're single, you don't have kids. Now is the time to try. If anything goes wrong, the doors are open for you to come back. I said perfect.
Speaker 1:I mean that means also you were good at your job and you had good relationships with who you're working with. Right, they want you to go for what you had.
Speaker 2:And it's always good not to burn the bridges that you have behind you. Exactly, and before I always worked with sports, sports marketing the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, then the Olympics. So you know what, after four years working in the corporate world with brand distribution, it's the time to try something different, and the UAE, especially Dubai, gives you that opportunity. So I told Alex, okay, let's do it. So we started bringing some coaches um, actually, two of them.
Speaker 1:They work with you now thank you very much for that. Thanks for putting in the work, for making my life easier, yeah so we start contacting coaches and doing this.
Speaker 2:We are the middleman between the club and the coaches um, some of them the language barrier was a bit difficult, so Alex, as a Spanish speaker, was doing the translation and we brought, I think, five of them. Plus. We had some very nice exhibition matches with Ale Galan, juan Iieres, lamperti yeah, you did one in Padua Arena. I think we did one in Padua Arena with Ale Galan. Yeah, we did WPA with Lamperti, pablo Lima, juanimieres. We did in Padua Square with Paquito Navarro and Raquel. We did in Padua House with Pablo Lima, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it was an interesting journey. And we did a few other opening ceremonies for the clubs. And when we were doing the tournament for Pado AI opening, alex and I we were organizing. It was a bit like crazy, like all these tournaments with the schedule and it was Friday night. The match was a bit delayed and one guy approached to me and said oh, when is my match? What exactly do you guys do? I want to know more about your business. So I explained to him and he's like, by the way, we are opening a Pad club in sport city. Uh, would you guys be interested to do the opening ceremony for us? Like, yeah, why not? He said, okay, let's grab a coffee next week, uh, and we discuss, I will bring my partner on the table and we we see what we can do. So, alex and I, we went for for the coffee breakfast and, uh, they brought us here to see the the project. And it's funny because when I arrived in dubai, uh, sports city was the first place I came to play football okay as a brazilian.
Speaker 2:I said, okay, that's what's the best way to meet people, meet friends, go play football. So I came and I play on the outdoor pitch and I said this is the place I want to work. It's a sports facility, I can do sports marketing, meet people. Then I went on the website. I could not find how to get in touch with someone. I sent my CV. No one replied. I said okay. Then I went for the corporate work, got the job. So when I came with these guys to see the paddle project, I said, okay, that's the opportunity again for me to work in Sports City. So we met the main investor, the owner of ISD at that time, and we came here. It was nothing, it was just the walls, like it was nothing inside. It was like.
Speaker 1:So the structure was already there, the plans were there.
Speaker 2:Well, where we have the paddle club was just big football pitch, like it was full of grass, so they built this from scratch. You had the tennis courts, you had the track, the football pitches, but here between the tennis courts and the rugby pitch was nothing Right. So when we came in it was like just they were finishing the walls and was nothing inside. And then the guy said look, we're going to open in three months' time, four months' time, as you know Dubai three months Infamous.
Speaker 2:And then we went for a meeting with the main investor and I said, look, you guys are going to need someone to manage the place right, not only to do the opening ceremony. And they were like, are you guys open for that?
Speaker 1:I said yeah, for sure that's were you making any money from fed at the time? Was it like sustainable or ah, it was tough.
Speaker 2:it was tough because, uh, as a entrepreneur, you depend on a daily challenge because nothing guaranteed. You do a tournament on the weekend Friday, saturday, sunday, you're done, you get paid for that, but what do you do on Monday? You got to start.
Speaker 1:You got to start pushing again.
Speaker 2:Right and then. So Alex and I we had some tough times because him leaving Emirates, me leaving my corporate job, that we know. At the end of the month you have the paycheck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no matter what, me leaving my corporate job, that we know. At the end of the month you have the paycheck. Yeah, I know what. It's true, right?
Speaker 2:so you work a little bit less, a little bit more, it's coming yeah so, but you know I always want that challenge and I thought it buys the place is there is the right time, so we accept the offer to. So when did you actually accept the offer? So that was November 2020.
Speaker 1:November 2020.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, and they hired both of you. So first they wanted to hire the company Fed, right, and then they figured out it was better to hire not Fed but Alex and Diego, so we had to stop the operation with Fed not Fed but Alex and Diego. So we had to stop the operation of Fed. We could not work doing events for another place at the same time managing here, so we closed that. Again, thanks for Charlie to have started that. We know he's going through tough times, but I get goosebumps because of the love he has for the sport. He gave me the opportunity to start something with Alex and we are very thankful Alex and I we always talk about that. So November 2020, we accept the offer and we start working here in February 2021.
Speaker 1:Okay, and the club opened.
Speaker 2:We opened, so now it's been, we opened July 2022.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you're working on the project over a year, sorry, no, we accept, we accept November 2021.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, then we start working on site February 2022. Then we open in July.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it was within the same timeframe yeah. I get really confused with those years as well. There's something about COVID that really messes with your perception of 2020, 2021, 2022. Every time I think back to those years, I don't know why I can't place the months and the timings. It's a disaster. I don't know why they got so confused.
Speaker 2:So much happened that year that you're like, okay, how long did I? It felt like it was a decade. Yeah, it was a lockdown, and how long did I have a job?
Speaker 1:So when you started working on the project of ISD Paddle, that was your original goal right Before you took on the other ragged sports. What was the reality of trying to, let's say, give birth to ISD? What was that like? Trying to get it all up and running and set it up?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was the toughest time because because, as you know, things gets delay. They promise you, oh, it's gonna be ready in 15 days, but it's not, uh. So we had to spend a lot of time here because, uh, we, we, we built the, the courts, from scratch so you're involved in the construction of the courts as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did you know anything about that no, was uh had to to learn on on the spot. But I think, with the passion we, we we have or we had, alex and I for the project, we, we didn't mind. We spent a lot of hours here. Uh, with the team. Uh, we had a team from spain coming to install the courts, so we were with them basically every day to make sure everything was perfect. We made some changes on the way, the place we had the retail shop, the seats around, and then, while the process was going, they offered us to take care of the tennis academy as well. So, look, he's next to each other. You both have tennis background. Would you be interested? He said yeah, of course, why not? So we took that as well. And then it was another challenge, but a good one, good learning process good learning process and then in 20, end of 2022.
Speaker 2:Alex got called to to join back emirates. Yeah, I'm happy for him that he got his job back. Yeah, so we knew that uh was coming and we had many conversations before and he said look, diego, I love this complex, I love paddle, I love tennis, but I love my, my job at Emirates. I have done for so many years. That's what I studied for. I said I totally understand financially.
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, it's a, I mean pilots, one of those jobs. It's like a vocation, isn't it? Like people don't really give it up, like it's a life choice, you know?
Speaker 2:It's not an easy job but gets a lot of benefits, got to enjoy and he loves what he does. So when he joined back Emirates he tried to do part-time here. He tried to do part-time here, but at the end we figured out it was not ideal because flying traveling, when he comes back he needs to rest as well. As we said, to be in the operational it takes a lot, it's a full-time job.
Speaker 1:It's a full-time job.
Speaker 2:So he said look, diego, I will let you run the place. I go back for my full time with Emirates. I'm still going to come and play, have fun, but that's not for me anymore. So I'm like, ok, thanks, alex, on your own. But to be honest, it was good. I think the toughest time we were together in the learning process to make it to open and make it running, and after that was just the daily challenge, the operational bringing new coaches, changing the staff until you find the team that is gonna support you and together.
Speaker 1:What would you say is the difference between managing the tennis and managing the paddle?
Speaker 2:I think it's just the size of the racket, to be honest, really Well, of course you have the different size of the court, the racket, the way you play, but at the end of the day, you're dealing with people, right? It doesn't?
Speaker 1:matter which sport they're playing Basketball tennis. It's a lot of lessons, right? Do many people actually book tennis courts to play?
Speaker 2:I think that's the main difference, the main revenue stream for tennis lessons and the academy like private, semi-private and the academy for the kids. Yeah, paddle is more the booking side, but it's changing a lot.
Speaker 1:You managed to get a lot of kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, really, last term we had 125 kids in Padova.
Speaker 1:I think you're honestly the only club in Dubai that's managing those numbers with kids. I mean, we did well last summer and I was discussing this in a previous episode, I can't remember who it was we did well in the summer but we had pickleball, we had the art studio, so it was more of like a glorified kids camp than sports. And for the past two years we've tried to get the kids academy up and running but we failed because we can't get the numbers. Paddle's not the priority. They're over here. Maybe it's our location as well. Getting into Alcuz, you guys obviously in a different location, maybe it's more residential around and obviously you guys are putting in more effort. You're doing a great job with it. So what would you say is the secret to your success in developing the junior academy?
Speaker 2:I think one is the location, as you mentioned, because we have so many sports. We have football, tennis, paddle, we have the athletics Plus. A lot of parents they come here, they bring the kid to play, one son or daughter to play football and the other one to play paddle, and the father does a lesson at the same time. So the location helps and, I think, the mentality of the coaches or the team. They see how important it is to develop sports from a young age. As we know, it's a big decrease on kids and teenagers playing sports. There is a study that says 40% less kids are doing sports and we know the reason Video games, mobile. They just want to be connected.
Speaker 1:They're all listening to this podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I think that's the challenge today to motivate the kids to do sports and, luckily enough, with the parents that we have taking lessons coming to play. When we speak with them and we explain about the academy, they see, okay, that's, that's important, uh, for my kid to develop. And after, especially after that that video, the doctor saying that whoever plays racket sports lives longer.
Speaker 1:You think that's true, okay, I think, uh, sports lives longer.
Speaker 2:You think that's true? I think. Let's see. We can speak in 30 years from now, but you and I have very different lifestyles.
Speaker 1:Let's be honest, there's a lot of other factors that come into play. Or do you think it's just being paid by Wilson or something to say?
Speaker 2:No, I think it's true, because this past week was another video as well showing some studies and if you take some important topics out of this interview, it makes sense. Because it's racket sports, you work the whole body right. Yeah, you need coordination, you need the legs to work together with the brain plus the arms. And they say table tennis is the best among all of them because, yeah, it's shorter, like a shorter table, quick reaction, it's very strategic. So that's why it works in a part of the brain, behind the cerebellum, that not many sports can provide this Really, so it's very interesting.
Speaker 1:I'd love to see the numbers on that, like the average age of table tennis players, and I guess physically maybe it's a little less impact. I'm not saying it's not physical, but it's not as heavy impact as maybe obviously tennis, paddles, squash these are the racket sports.
Speaker 2:And I think that's why they say it's very strategic, quick reaction and the match it's shorter than tennis. You can play a five-hour match. Of course you need to be strong mentally, but you have the breaks, you have more time to think about it. Same as paddle. So I think all of these factors that brings together for the parents to understand okay, it's important for my kid to be active. Of course, football is always going to be football, right, You're always going to have 90% of the boys they want to play football because it's natural.
Speaker 1:It's a great sport. I think it's a great sport I don't like professional football players. I don't like what the sports become at a professional level for football, but as a sport on its own, I think it's great yeah here we have over a thousand two hundred kids in the football academy, boys and girls, and I think it's great.
Speaker 2:But I like when the parents they want the kids to try all the different sports. Not only okay, my kid will play football five times a week because I see him or her as the next Cristiano or Marta will be the best player. So it's good to let them try, let them try. Let them try paddle tennis, table tennis, football, athletics, and see what they enjoy the most. At the end of the day, it's more important for them to be active than for the parents or or the kids to have the pressure and they end up hating the sport anyway.
Speaker 1:If you most kids, if you push them into one sport, it doesn't work out in the long run. I just want to go back on something you said earlier, um, when you're talking about the kids academy and about your coaches, and that they saw how important it is to make the kids active. So they're looking at it from a bigger picture, not about themselves, because most of the paddle coaches that I know hate coaching kids because it is more effort, it's more demanding. You need to change exercise, you need to plan more. It's not like an individual lesson with an adult where you can just do repetition and they'll do what you say. Yeah, you know there's a lot more moving parts, you have more people on the court, so how have you managed to transmit that message to your team about looking at a bigger picture? That's not just about them?
Speaker 2:yeah. So it's uh. Last year I sometimes, if I have I, jump on the court to help them. So last year we were starting the academy, the term two, and we had more kids than coaches available at that time. So I jumped on the court to help for two hours. So I did two different groups. I remember one group was like four kids, very young, two boys and two girls, and then the next group was a little bit older. Both lessons when we finish the parents.
Speaker 2:They came to the reception, said I want to book the academy with Coach Diego and they explained like he's not a coach, he was just like helping today. He's always going to be around, but we have our coaches. So I kept that in my mind and after I had a meeting with the coaches at the time and with the new ones after hours when they joined, I gave this example. I said I'm not a better paddle player than any of them All the coaches we have. They play paddle much better than me.
Speaker 2:But it's about the energy you put on the court. You know the commitment At the end of of the day, the kids. They want to have fun. Do they want to play pad? All of them, maybe not maybe the parent trying to convince or push them to play, but we wanted to make sure that one hour, the kids you are on the court with the kids, you give your best, your energy, you're smiling, you put the effort so the kid can enjoy it. Is it easy? No, it's always going to be the perfect group of kids that they're always going to play. No, they're going to have kids running around throwing the ball, throwing the racket, hitting each other. But that's the talent that the coach needs to have, right, as I said at the beginning, to work with people. And I'm very lucky with the coaches we have now. They all understand that. They all enjoy. I hope so.
Speaker 1:At least that's what they tell you.
Speaker 2:But I try to show them the benefits as well. We do a kids' tournament every Friday of the month. So I tell them guys, look now the work you put and now you can see the kids playing the tournament. And it's funny because sometimes during the lesson they get very distracted, they don't pay attention, but when they come to the tournament they're very focused. Yeah, they want to compete, they want to compete, they want to win. So that's very nice to see. They can you see like kids five, six years old coming to to play the tournament. They, they have fun. Of course, sometimes they feel the pressure of the parents. The parents are want to stay next to the court.
Speaker 1:so we try oh, you have that in the with the parents and paddle as well oh, yeah, yeah big time.
Speaker 2:So we try to explain to the parents please don't stay next to the court, stay behind, watch the kid. We are here to help. If they have problems with the points, we're going to help them. So so far we are okay. But you can see that the parents they get excited to see the kids playing. They are competitive as well. They want them to to succeed, so they get nervous.
Speaker 1:But I think it's really important for kids to learn how to lose. Yeah, that at some point in your life you're gonna lose exactly sometimes you're gonna get kicked in the teeth. You know life is not fair and that's the reality, right? I guess I'm not saying they should be competing at the age of three, but it's fine to get them competing and, yeah, sometimes you lose, sometimes you're gonna cry, you're gonna have feelings, it's normal. But the earlier you learn that this is part of life, I think it's great that sport is a great way to teach kids how to grow as an adult and to learn how to deal with failure as you said, because life is not easy out there and I think sport is the only thing that can teach kids to win or to learn.
Speaker 2:That's what we put for the tennis academy Either you win or you learn. No losing, no losing, but because even when you lose you learn something. Of course, yeah, okay, maybe you had a bad day or maybe the other team played better than you. You need to accept that. As you said, you know you're never going to win all the time In life, at the job, at work, in sports. So I think it's a good process for them to learn and face the reality. To learn and face the reality. Especially here, like in Dubai, the kids need more of these challenges. Again, with the mobile in their hand, the tablets, video games, they see it's easier. Everyone succeeds. The YouTubers are rich, the Instagrammers are making millions. I want to do this and that. No, let's face the, the reality and show them that they need to fight for it. Nothing comes easy.
Speaker 1:It's true, right, and I like what you said about the coaches. I mean, you're not a professional paddle player, your paddle experience is somewhat limited, but people enjoy training with you because you create that human connection right, and I do believe a big part of coaching and especially in dubai, a lot of people don't come to take lessons to play paddle, to compete in tournaments. They come for an hour by themselves, to have fun, to feel safe, to develop something and to create a connection with someone. Yeah, and I do feel like a huge part of coaching is creating that like safety net for people, helping them grow, get a little bit better, have fun, you know, take a break from their day-to-day life.
Speaker 1:And I feel sometimes it's a little bit overlooked and everyone is too focused on no, no, we got to fix that bandega technique and. But at the end of the day, that's not why the people are coming. They're paying the money, they're happy to pay the money, they want to leave feeling happy. You know it's not. Everyone is purely focused on competition, so we need to, I think, focus on the soft skills a little bit more. When it comes to the coaches, how do you choose and hire your coaches?
Speaker 2:um, I think I try to to deliver. The message for them that's most important is to deliver a good experience. Uh, deliver, we say magic because at the end of the day, when you go do something, you're paying for a service. Even if it's bad or good, it's the experience you had right. So I think it's the same for the paddle lessons. Not everyone is coming here for the high performance. Some people they just come for one hour to do their cardio workout. They have that one hour in the day that they want to be active and do some sports. So you need to read who is coming, what they want, and I think from the beginning it's good to ask what are you?
Speaker 1:here for, yeah, I do a limited amount of coaching. But the first question I always ask when someone comes from a lesson is like why are we here today? Yeah, I'm not a psychologist, you know it's in a racket sport environment like, what do you want to do? What's important to you? And I always remember and this one woman changed a little bit the way I approached giving lessons at the time um, we were playing and you know, like I was trying to teach her some basic shots. She was a beginner and she didn't seem that interesting. Like she hit the balls. It's like, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 1:And then we start picking up the balls and she'd be so happy Picking up the balls. We're having a chat, great conversation, and I was asking her like why do you seem happier picking up the balls than hitting the ball? She's like oh, I love this part, I love picking up the balls. This is what I come for. It's therapeutic. The court clean, I picked them up, I put them away. It's like a peace of mind, it's like a little bit of therapy. So you understand that everyone has different ambitions. I'm sure there's not many people who come to pick up the balls.
Speaker 1:Most people hate it but I thought it was a very interesting way to look at what they want, like you said, what they want from that service that you're providing and I think each person is different.
Speaker 2:You don't know what's happening in their own life, personal life. Maybe they have a problem at home or a problem at work and they come to to to play paddle, to talk with someone outside of their world. As you said, she was picking up the balls, she was happy to have the chance to, to chat with you, and I think that's the message I try to tell not only the coaches, but the, the whole team in the front desk, uh, the people involved in the, in the clinic. We never know who's coming. Maybe someone is coming in a bad mood, someone just had a problem outside and comes here and needs to put out, either hitting the ball harder or maybe saying something that is a bit mean to you. But this person doesn't mean that way and I had a few experiences here.
Speaker 2:That's why it's a daily operational thing, because you're dealing with different people, especially here, different backgrounds, different culture, different language, different expectations. Right, because some people they think, okay, I'm paying, that's what I want and nothing different than that. But some people will come and have a good time, more relaxed. If the music is a bit louder today or lower, they're fine with that. But some people say no, I'm paying, I want no music, because I'm here for one hour.
Speaker 1:The music bothers me okay and what do you do in that situation?
Speaker 2:oh, we depends. If you book the entire place for you, the six courts, I do whatever you want. You want music, you know music microphone. But if you book one court and the other five courts, they want music. I say, look, we need to be flexible, we can put the volume a bit down, but the other people, they prefer to play with the music. So it's a message that I try to deliver to the team. At the end of the day, people, the parents, the kids, the client, whoever comes from that door, needs to live here with a good experience, that's, they need to live with a good memory so either they are watching a game, taking a lesson or playing with friends.
Speaker 2:We need to make sure they had the best time, Because a pedal court Max is a pedal court anywhere Glass, the turf, the net and the lights. Okay, you have some places with better courts than others, but at the end of the day, that's not why people go, and I think you're very right in everything that you said.
Speaker 1:I mean ISD for those, maybe people listening who aren't familiar with Dubai is, in my objective opinion, one of the best clubs. Thank you, nice facility, great facility, obviously, but that's not why it's like you said everything you've done with the coaches, everything you've done with the kids, what you do with the community as well, and how do you grow that community? Because when you opened July 2022, I think you said, yeah, there was no community. Right, there's no one. It's tough. The first few months are tough. We felt the same thing. We opened a few months after you guys in Paddle Out, and it's tough, there's no one right, you need to get traction. How did you do that?
Speaker 2:I think, try to be as natural as possible. I think when people see that you love what you do, you spend time, they come, they appreciate. You know that's what I say. I go around, sometimes I jump on the court to play, to meet people you know, start growing and you do some events for them tournaments One thing that we don't do here is the cash prize tournament, and a lot of people appreciate that, because I feel a lot of people are stopping playing tournaments because of the cash prize, the different level yeah that's another topic for a separate uh does it.
Speaker 1:We've gone forever about leveling cash prizes.
Speaker 2:I agree 100 but uh, I think growing the community is the main key is that when they feel you want them to feel comfortable here, you know you want to deliver the best experience again, and people talk yeah, I think the best marketing is the word of mouth. Okay, we do social media, we do videos, we do we take photos, this and that, but at the end of the day, people need to feel special and each person has their own needs. Maybe you come here, you play and you're fine if I get you a cup of coffee, but maybe somewhere else we need a gift, a racket. We need to understand each person.
Speaker 1:I really like the way your reception team approaches the players, because I come and play here sometimes and you know I I they don't know me, they don't know I have I'm a manager of a club. They don't set expectations. You know they're treating me differently than they would someone else but you know they're very kind, very smiley. Um, last time I came here they gave me like a sample of something that they had and I thought it was a really nice touch. You know they about my game, it's not just card machine. So that soft skill, that little interaction, it makes you feel you know it's nice, it's that feeling. You remember that kind of stuff. I don't remember what the turf was like, or the lights, the music, this stuff. I don't pay attention to that. It's how they make you feel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's the key message when I meet with them, we do the team meeting we try to do once a week. It's difficult to get the whole team together because some they have the day off, but we try to get all together and at least once a week I try to sit with each of them for 15, 20 minutes. Just hey, how are you doing? Is everything okay? What do you need from my side? Do you need any help? And I try to show them these small things that you said. Giving you a sample to try. It makes a difference, right? They're going to remember the smile they give.
Speaker 1:And it's ridiculous, right? Because I mean I have the same samples in my club. I received the same samples, but the fact that they gave it to me, you know, as a service, as something I was expecting, I really appreciate it. So the impact that has on the rest of the customers and the players is huge. You know, it has that ripple effect. I think it's really great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think another thing we try to do as a team that doesn't matter, like from the cleaning team to the CEO and the owner of the company. For me it's all the same. We treat all the same. There's no difference. What hurts you? To come and say good morning to someone or to give a smile. Maybe it can change someone's day, that someone is having a bad day, or maybe when you came here to play, you were having a bad day. The reception was nice to you, Gave you the sample, Changed your mood. So I think that's what we need in the world. The world is very angry, tension.
Speaker 1:And we're very connected, but we're disconnected at the same time. We're connected through cameras, videos, talking like, messaging, all this stuff, but that actual human touch, that human interaction, we're losing it. I do feel we're losing it. And there's one thing I wanted to ask you before I forget about ISD. When you guys opened, you were one of the first clubs to have alcohol. How was that? Was it beneficial for the club? Did you actually see it as a negative, neutral? Did it have a good? What was the impact on it?
Speaker 2:I think it was very beneficial, to be honest, because, as you said, it was one of the first indoor paddle clubs with an alcohol license and our main customers they're all expats. We have some local communities but most of them are expats and they like to play and have a beer after, so that was very nice for us. People love it to finish their game, just sit down in the restaurant, four friends together together, have a beer and then shower and go home. So that was a uh and alex and I at the time we we made like hashtag the game changer, because it was the game changer in pado, the first club with alcohol licensed restaurant inside the the facility. So we, we had the, we had some fun. Uh, we had some fun. We had some really good corporate events. Now it's under renovation, the restaurant. Hopefully soon we have the license back, but it's a game changer for a lot of people. I'm sure you miss your beer after the paddle game.
Speaker 1:I mean it's a good thing that we don't have it in my club, because I would get no of that. I would just be sitting in that bar talking to people drinking all day. So it's good that there's no alcohol.
Speaker 2:I think that was one of the key points for Alex to accept.
Speaker 1:That's why he left right.
Speaker 2:At first. That's why he accepted. That's why he was spending too much money, I bet yeah, was there any negative side to that?
Speaker 1:Do you have problems?
Speaker 2:We didn't have problems because we didn't allow people to drink and go play after.
Speaker 1:How could you control that?
Speaker 2:Well, because most of the people they were drinking at night, right, so we knew who was not getting drunk but like, let's say, tipsy, and we tried to explain. Even if they try to go play again after they drink, say, guys, it's not safe. You know, like it's a lot involved in a paddle court. You have the glass, the racket can be dangerous. So we never had a problem with someone trying to jump on the court and if we had a late night event we would close the doors and people wouldn't have access to the courts?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it always seems like a good idea, right? Oh, let's go play now. It's not.
Speaker 2:Because you feel more like you have more power, you have more strength, but it's not a good idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean a lot of people say to me oh, paddle, art's great. You know, honestly, I don't want it, because for me if there's alcohol there's problems. People get too excited, they get drunk all this stuff.
Speaker 2:It's a sports club at the end of the day, security and all of this. Again, for us, if there's alcohol, there should be a time frame for that, because during the day we have the kids, so it's not a good environment to have kids around people drinking. We are a sports facility. We have the Kickers sports bar. You want to have your drink? Yeah, it's a one-minute walk. Yeah, it's like literally just behind the building and we had a lot of tournament events that we do and people just go with the group straight there to enjoy a nice evening. But it's a good question because I'm sure you get a lot people asking when you and you guys have an amazing facility. I was, uh, fully booked thank you.
Speaker 1:That's the only reason I did this uh podcast was to hear you say that okay, see, I didn't forget, took time. I'm waiting my cap, by the way you can buy it on the outlet okaylet Paddle.
Speaker 2:Outlet. Yeah, okay, I need to come in. I'll bring you one, okay, if we?
Speaker 1:get like 1,000 views. I'll give you one. See, we have a challenge 1,000 views 1,000 views. One cap for a video. Okay, I'll even do the ISD logo for you.
Speaker 2:Okay, deal.
Speaker 1:Sounds like a good plan.
Speaker 2:If Wow, that's a great racket, maybe not See the details with the logo. We are even going to put your name here.
Speaker 1:We could do that. So, since you guys opened IST in 2022, how has the industry changed since then?
Speaker 2:I would say it changed a lot because when we got hired, we presented a business plan to the owners based on the scenario we had in 2021, with the amount of clubs and courts we had at that time. When we opened, 8 months later, the scenario was completely different more competition, more clubs that was a big year.
Speaker 1:There was a lot of clubs that opened that year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we had to go back to the guys and say, look, that number from eight months ago is a bit different now. But why? Yeah, because we have this, this and this. New places open and from 2022 until now still, clubs are opening, opening more courts, and I think it's good for the sport. A lot of people don't like the competition, but for me, more clubs opening is better for all of us. That means more people playing, more jobs opportunity, more coaches coming the level. It's growing, a lot of kids knowing the sport now, more community, more events. So I think it's all beneficial for all of us.
Speaker 2:Of course depends how you see the sport right At the end of the day, it's a business. You know, like everyone needs to make money, but I don't see money is the only reason I'm here. Is they love for the, for sports, not for only for paddle, but they love to be around good people, good coaches, good client people that really enjoy to be here and sharing this experience. We have paddle coaches that play high level Jordi, our head coach. He plays with the really good guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've suffered playing against him.
Speaker 2:It's not easy. It looks easy from outside. When you jump on the court it's like how can it be so easy for him? But it's good to share this experience he had in the past, now implementing as a coach. Uh, same for the table tennis coaches. We have both of them. They play professional level, they play championships and just when you see them playing like looks easy table tennis, no, let's go play.
Speaker 1:And you cannot hit one ball and they might spin as well that they generate we try to hit the ball, it's all over the place.
Speaker 2:Then you have the tennis coaches that also, like the head coach, Michael, play professional in Poland. We have Claudia that play college tennis and we have many other coaches that try to play professional Didn't make for different reasons and it's good to share, have a coffee with them and just to share the experience. You always learn a bit from from all of them. Again, you don't need to be the the best player, but you need to be a good person with good energy exactly and at the end of the day, if you want to strip it down to the basics, it's customer service.
Speaker 1:Yeah, make that person happy, like you said from the beginning. You know, like, let that people leave. And at the end of the day, if you want to strip it down to the basics, it's customer service. Make that person happy, like you said from the beginning. Let that people leave your facility, leave your lesson with a smile and a good experience. That's what you want and that's also when I agree with you on the competition side. When we first opened, I was like, oh my God, there's even more clubs opening. But as we grew and I think I can say ISD, paddle and Paddle Art, we are in the top range of clubs and you should only really fear competition if you don't feel like you're putting in the work, if you feel you've got a good product and a good service. More competition means more people coming your way. Once they start playing, they will go to the clubs that are offering them the better service. And as long as we can stay in that top range, more competition the better. So how are you going to stay there?
Speaker 2:It's getting motivated every day. You need to innovate, come up with new ideas. Different events bring new community and maybe building more courts, because that's the challenge we have now. That's the goal you have. We want to yeah, yeah, because, well, today's from we started at 7 am, it's yeah, I mean, now it's a Thursday, what time is it? Is 11.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys are everyone supposed to be back to work and back to school, but I don't know what they're doing.
Speaker 2:But then now we have the group of students coming for one hour and a half 55 students. We divide the group between boys and girls playing paddle and table tennis, and from 4 pm we are fully booked until 11. So it's a good problem to have. That's why, if we can have some extra courts it would be amazing. But again, they say the best money spent is with experience. They say money doesn't buy happiness. It's true, but buy good experience. It can be bad, even if you go traveling, you miss your flight or the flight you arrive there, your luggage didn't arrive. You're going to be mad at the time, but you're still going to remember that five days, five weeks, five months later you're going to be with some friends having a coffee and you're going to tell that story. That experience you had, bad or good, is what you're going to remember.
Speaker 1:In regards to experiences and I always say this to my team is if someone has a bad experience in a club which happens, I'm sure it happens to you. Sometimes things don't go well, like double bookings, I don't know what. There's a million things that can go wrong in a customer experience in a paddler club. When something goes wrong, that is an amazing opportunity for you to make that person a loyal customer to your business. Because opportunity for you to make that person a loyal customer to your business because, yeah, things go wrong. People know that, but it's what you do and how you validate their problem and if you can fix it and how you make them feel about that, you can really do something amazing. It's the best opportunity you have. Do you transmit that to your team as well?
Speaker 2:yeah, and I think you learn that in sports. You know you play tennis before you play padel. It's a quick reaction. Sometimes you're having a bad day. What are you going to do? You're going to be complaining. You need to react quick and find a solution. And I think it's the same for the client.
Speaker 2:We had two weeks ago one client. He had a bad experience here, so he sent a message, an email, to the reception. I said let me call him and understand. So he call him and understand. So he was.
Speaker 2:He complained to them that the ac was was not working and he didn't like the racket he rented. So I called him and said oh, I heard you. You had a problem. Tell me so. No, I was sweating too much. I think you had a problem with ac.
Speaker 2:And then the racket they gave me I didn't like, I wanted power. And then I changed. They gave me a. I didn't lie, I wanted power. And then I changed. They gave me a bad racket. I said look, they see it. I've been playing there every day. I'm there every day. We had a problem in June, but it's fixed and no one complained. Maybe that day you were running more, you were sweating more, Maybe it was a bit humid, we don't know. And the racket you played with the blue ISD racket, I and the racket you played with the blue ISD racket. I said yes. I said that's the one I'm playing now and it's fine. We just received two weeks ago. It's brand new and he's like okay. So thank you for your call and your feedback. I really appreciate it. I said next time you are here, let me know. We grab a coffee. I want to meet you in person and we play a game together. You're so happy. On the phone said okay, next time I'm there I'll let you know we play a game.
Speaker 1:So a small thing one phone call that changed the bad experience, and you didn't just kiss his ass either. You weren't just like, oh sorry, sorry, sorry.
Speaker 2:You're right this that, whatever you I put, maybe he had a bad day, maybe he was swearing too much that day as well didn't feel like. But when you put your point of view, your feedback change. There, of course we're going to make mistakes. I'm not saying we're always right or the customer is always right, but we need to find the reason and give the solution.
Speaker 1:I mean any club manager listening to this will agree that temperature is one that you can't win. People are never happy. It's always going to be too hot and it's always going to be too cold for someone else you can't.
Speaker 2:there's no middle.
Speaker 1:Not everyone feels the same thing, so that's one that you know. You need to set it where you're comfortable and be like you know what. This is it, diego. I want to end this podcast with a question to you. What advice would you give to someone today who's planning to open a paddle club?
Speaker 2:If you just want to open with a few ports inside the warehouse, with a small coffee shop and a small retail, don't do it, because you don't need to do more of the same. You need to do something different. What is different? Show that you love what you're doing. Put the effort, have a good team, strong team with you that believes in the work. It's not going to be easy from the beginning. You're not going to have the courts full from day one. It's a daily task and, again, it's to understand that people are looking for a good experience. If you want to open a club, you want to work with sports. It's a different ballgame. It's not the job that you're going to be sitting on your desk behind the computer for nine hours doing the same thing. You need to be creative, have the energy, because it's a daily challenge. As you know, you don't go to the club every day and you know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there has to be passion.
Speaker 2:There has to be passion.
Speaker 1:And you were not lying about the 55 kids. They're already here.
Speaker 2:See, I told you.
Speaker 1:And they're excited to play. So I think for today, we'll leave it at this. Diego, I look forward to having you back on the podcast. Thank you for your time. I have a lot of respect for you and the club that you've built, and I look forward to seeing the great things that you're going to do in the future.
Speaker 2:So thank you for your time. No, thank you for having the podcast, having different people from different backgrounds giving their opinion, feedback, and we know each other for a long time. We played a couple of times. I'm looking forward to challenge you again.
Speaker 1:I think I'm way too good for you now. I think you've got no chance.
Speaker 2:We can have a dinner in Kickers Done. But congrats again for what you have done, thank you. We know your passion. You have known the, the club there, the team, you always full book and we still need to do that event together.
Speaker 1:But the arts against ISD yeah, we go play there, you guys as long as your kids against our kids, because we don't have any. So you definitely win that one. But maybe on the adults we good. So you definitely win that one, but maybe on the adults we're good. Yeah, we can mix that up. Let's not do it September, october, because now both of us are going to be really busy. Let's make as much money as we can and then, when it gets quieter, we'll do it.
Speaker 1:Then We'll organize that Smart, so you always got to think about the bottom line of the business, but you won't escape from the challenge I have with you. I don't care, because probably we'll play before this comes out, okay, and I'll put a note. Who won, anyway, on that fine note, diego, thank you so much. Thank you, have a lovely day you too, and we'll be back.
Speaker 2:Well done with everything. Thank you and looking forward for the next episode.
Speaker 1:I look forward to beating you. Thank you, thank you you.