Jean Galea

Health, Wealth, Relationships, Wisdom

My Padel Experience

Jean Galea and Pablo Ayma

Jean Galea and Pablo Ayma (one of the best coaches around)

My favorite sport to watch and practice is padel, the fastest-growing sport in Europe. I started playing this sport in 2015 in Barcelona.

In 2017, I decided to go full-time padel, to see what it would be like living an athlete’s life, and also to understand how fast I could improve and whether I could reach a semi-pro level. It was an amazing experience that lasted around two years, during which I had the opportunity to train with some of the best coaches, compete in many tournaments and also meet and chat with pro players.

As of 2024, I am training and playing regularly with a simple focus on improving my game, meeting new people and having fun. I have found a very nice setup with two coaches, a club where I can play daily, and couple that with postural training and some weights.

With my coach Miguel Sciorilli

Based on my experience, if you train 2x a week and play 2x a week for 7-10 years you will become a very good player at an amateur level. For competing at a pro level you would need to start at a very young age, or have competed professionally at a related sport like tennis before transitioning to padel.

Here’s my current skill level, according to the Padelagogo questionnaire, which in my experience is pretty accurate. The result shows a rating of 4-4.5 and I would rate myself on the lower end of that. My aim is to sustain a good rate of improvement over the years.

Below you’ll find a list of tournaments I played in, as well as recorded matches and articles about padel.

Tournaments 2020

I decided not to participate in tournaments unless I found a partner with whom I had a great feeling and with whom I could consistently play well and win matches. If I don’t have such a partner it ends up being too random and honestly just stressful to me.

I played in a padel league organized by the Indoor Padel club and enjoyed it. You had to change partner every match, but it ends up better reflecting the overall level of a player in this format. There are two categories, and I’m currently in the second category. So my aim this year will be to reach the first category and stay there.

I also mixed in a bit of tennis as I felt that would make me a better padel player while giving me a bit of a break from padel. Adding to that, I also practiced beach tennis occasionally and won one beach tennis tournament in February.

The latter part of the year was conditioned by the COVID situation as well as an ankle injury, from which I eventually recovered.

Read my 2020 padel review

MonthTournamentClubCityCountryLevelPartnerResults
JulyPublidepArtosBarcelonaSpain4Juanjo ArroyoFirst round
JanuaryPadelarium AnnivesaryPadelarium GavaGavaSpain4Juanjo ArroyoWinners
FebruaryPadel7 AnniversaryPadel7 Sant MartiBarcelonaSpain2Alex PueyGroup stage

Tournaments 2019

In 2019, I decided to focus my attention on what are generally considered to be the two best amateur tours in Catalunya: Publidep and Adeslas Tour. In addition to playing some rounds from these two tours, I will be playing in the Liga de Padel Barcelona. The main benefit of playing this league is that you get to play very well matched games on a weekly basis without having to waste a lot of time finding other players yourself.

Unfortunately, all my plans for this year were disrupted as I started to run a fever almost every time I played during the first few months of the year. With a baby at home, I couldn’t afford to be bedridden with high fever for two days after every match, so I had to lighten my activity and submit myself to many health checks to try to identify the cause of the fever.

There were some worries that it could be something serious so it affected me psychologically as well. In the end, the results of the tests were not conclusive and the fever disappeared as mysteriously as it had come. During the summer I got back to training at high intensities and played a few tournaments towards the end of the year.

I had also joined the PadelCat (started in 2018) and Liga De Padel leagues this year and had to drop out due to the health issues I was having.

Read my 2019 padel review

MonthTournamentClubCityCountryLevelPartnerResults
FebruaryPublidepStar's PadelCornellaSpain3Xavier ManzaneraFirst round
SeptemberBePadelSant Just Padel ClubBarcelonaSpain3Claudiu AntonescuQuarter finals
SeptemberPublidepRC PoloBarcelonaSpain3Claudiu AntonescuLast 16
OctoberBePadelPadelarium GavaGavaSpain4Juanjo ArroyoSemifinal

Tournaments 2018

Apart from playing the several tournaments shown below, I also took part in the PadelCat league playing for the Vall D’Hebron club. It was a nice experience as you get to visit clubs in different parts of Catalunya, however the level of the matches was very random, so it was disappointing to travel by car for 1 or 1.5 hours to play a match against two opponents who turned out to be very inferior, resulting in a very short match in which we didn’t break a sweat.

The facilities at the Vall D’Hebron club were very sub-standard too so I didn’t even enjoy playing matches at our home courts. All in all, I’m happy for the experience and the people I met, but I don’t think I will participate again next year.

Read my 2018 padel review

MonthTournamentClubCityCountryLevelPartnerResults
MarchBarcelona Padel Tour XPressSan Just Padel ClubBarcelonaSpainCJuanjo ArroyoGroup stage
MarchPim Pam Padel Padel 1 SabadellSpainCJuanjo ArroyoSemifinal
AprilPim Pam PadelPadel 1SabadellSpainCDani EspinalQuarter final
AprilTorneo Padel IndoorIndoor HospitaletBarcelonaSpainCJuanjo ArroyoGroup stage
MayInternational Padel ExperiencePadel SerradellsAndorra La VellaAndorraBJuanjo ArroyoSecond round
MayBePadelSlam PadelBarcelonaSpainBJuanjo ArroyoSecond round
JuneLetamendi CupPadel ManyanetBarcelonaSpainIntermediatePablo SalazarWinners
JulyBCN Padel ClubVilasport ClubVilassar de DaltSpainBAndreu EstebanGroup stage
SeptemberPim Pam PadelIndoor Padel BarcelonaBarcelonaSpainBClaudioGroup stage

Tournaments 2017

Read my 2017 padel review

MonthTournamentClubCityCountryLevelPartnerResults
MarchAfterWorkLaietaBarcelonaSpainCLuis PascualGroup stage
JulyBePadelEl Prat PadelBarcelonaSpainCOle MuellerLast 16
JulyFairPlayFairPlay PadelBarcelonaSpainBJuanjo ArroyoGroup stage
AugustInternational Padel ExperiencePadel Club VictoriaRotterdamNetherlandsBOle MuellerWinners
SeptemberInternational Padel ExperiencePadel Campo GrandeLisbonPortugalBJuanjo ArroyoLast 16
SeptemberPim Pam PadelIndoor Padel BarcelonaBarcelonaSpainMixtoPaola AringoliSemifinal
OctoberBePadelSant Just Padel ClubBarcelonaSpainCMarc MoratoLast 16
OctoberFairPlayFairPlay PadelBarcelonaSpainBJuanjo ArroyoWinners
OctoberAISIndoor Padel BarcelonaBarcelonaSpainMixtoPaola AringoliSemifinal
OctoberPadel BlauPadel BlauBarcelonaSpainMixtoPaola AringoliWinners
OctoberBePadelFairPlay PadelBarcelonaSpainBSebastian SaydeLast 16
NovemberBePadelRed IndoorBarcelonaSpainMixto 3Paola AringoliLast 16
DecemberFairPlayFairPlay PadelBarcelonaSpainBMarc MoratoGroup stage
DecemberWhatsUp PadelPadel Indoor HospitaletBarcelonaSpainBAndreu EstebanGroup stage
DecemberPim Pam PadelIndoor Padel BarcelonaBarcelonaSpainMixtoPaola AringoliFinal

My Padel Matches

I frequently record my padel matches with a GoPro (check out my how-to article if you want to do the same), and then upload them on Youtube. Here’s the self-updating playlist with all my recorded padel matches.

Articles about Padel

All the padel-related articles I’ve published on this blog:

Latest Padel Match

Jean Galea

Investor | Dad | Global Citizen | Athlete

Hi there, I'm Jean!

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