For trailblazing girls Vanesa Gonzalez and Erin Purtle, padel isn’t only a sport—it’s a catalyst for group, 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 girls like Vanesa and Silvia Gonzalez-Quinones, Erin Purtle and Catarina Segorbe, who will not be solely pioneering women-owned padel services but in addition empowering a brand new technology of gamers and entrepreneurs within the sport.
Gonzalez didn’t count on 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 throughout the early Nineteen Nineties has remodeled right into a thriving hub for padel lovers in Perth.
“We had been lacking it a lot,” Gonzalez displays. “Padel was at all times a part of our lives. My sister stated, ‘Why don’t we create a membership?’”
Gonzalez-Quinones’ imaginative and prescient and willpower had 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 girls’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 by means of 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 obsessed with,” she says. “I spent three years with no revenue, however devoted every part 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 part 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 had been totally booked virtually instantly. Folks had been able to play, and that vitality 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 group.
“When our facility flooded in our second yr, the group 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 sturdy amongst girls.
Whereas padel globally nonetheless sees a male-dominated participant base, Gonzalez has created a welcoming area for girls. “I used to be teaching and operating socials, and ladies had been drawn to that,” she says.
“Our mornings are dominated by girls—they’ve created their very own teams and maintain coming again.”
Throughout the nation in Albury, NSW, Purtle confronted the same 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 had been restricted.
“It was both transfer close to a padel membership or construct my very own,” Purtle stated.
“We couldn’t make it work financially in locations like Melbourne or Sydney, so we seemed regional. Two years down the monitor, I’m actually proud of our choice.”
The Sol Padel group has change 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 feel girls are drawn to the social aspect of it. Padel is simple to select up, and as soon as they struggle it, they love how enjoyable and welcoming it’s. It’s not nearly competitors; it’s about connection.
“Our gender break up is about 55 per cent girls, however once I attend tournaments, it’s a distinct story. It’s extra 80 per cent males and solely 20 per cent girls.”
Purtle believes structural adjustments are key to rising feminine participation.
“Small adjustments assist break down limitations for girls competing,” she defined. “When tournaments assure completely different classes, we see extra girls becoming a member of,”
For Gonzalez and Purtle, padel isn’t only a sport—it’s a catalyst for group, confidence, and connection. And so they’re not slowing down.
As Gonzalez places it: “We’ve come to date, however there’s nonetheless a lot potential. I need to see extra girls stepping onto the courtroom and feeling empowered by this recreation.”
As these girls proceed to interrupt new floor, they’re proving there’s by no means been a greater time for girls to step onto the courtroom.
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 objective, however a actuality.
To search out out extra about padel, go to Padel Australia.
That is Half I of two tales celebrating girls in padel. Keep tuned for Half II later this month…
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