Five days at VEST

I spent the first week of September at VEST Padel Academy in BamVolea SportCity, the second largest padel centre in the world, just outside Valencia. Monday to Friday, three or four sessions most days, on-court in the morning, gym in the middle of the day, on-court again in the afternoon or evening. It was the most comprehensive week of training I have had, with the tactical work, physical training and psychological work all embedded within the sessions. Every session planned expertly and delivered under the one roof. It definitely beats outdoor courts, subzero temperatures and a cycle to the gym.

Padel-Craft

I am delighted to announce I am starting a partnership with Padel-Craft.

Padel-Craft design and install padel courts across Ireland, and they are VEST's academy partner here. That is why this one fits. The single biggest thing I need at this stage is concentrated weeks against better players, and that is expensive and hard to arrange on your own. Padel-Craft can open that door in a way most sponsors cannot.

There is more coming through the year, including exhibitions and clinics at Padel-Craft venues around the country. I will post those as they get confirmed.

The week

• Monday Defending the corner, low balls only, no lob allowed. Then a tiebreak that sent us up a court, king of the court style.
• Tuesday Volleys, and holding the arc position at the net.
• Wednesday Situational games all morning. Then a set against Raphael Cuesta and Jenny in the afternoon.
• Thursday The hardest gym session of the week, and two blocks on court either side of it.
• Friday Lobbing, and a lot of it. Finished with open points.

What I was working on

Two things, and they turned out to be the same thing.

The first was giving up width. Monday's drill was two at the net, one defending the corner, and I was not allowed lob at all. Every ball had to be low. The instruction was to play into the body, at the left hip, rather than soft to the feet. Move them a small bit, then do it again, and never give them width, because the second you do the net player gets a free attacking volley. It sounds obvious written down. It is much harder when you are stuck in the corner and the easy ball is the wrong one.

The second was my overhead. At times I was arriving front-on with the ball too far ahead of me, and putting too much spin on it, so it was landing short and handing the point straight back. Not enough rotation through the ball, and my swing path too high to low. Having @padelpro.ie there alongside me for the week, watching every session and working with the coaches, means we can take the work home. A lot easier than going on my own.

Wednesday's session was the one that will stay with me. The coach spoke about managing your arousal level around service games, before and after a break, and about building patterns to lift it back up when you need to, whether that is a key word, a physical movement or a loud shout. Then we played games starting from 30-0, and games where the volleyer lost automatically if they missed the first volley. Very little of that week was about hitting the ball better. It was about making better decisions.

The physical side

Thankfully my physical training over the past year has increased significantly before coming into this week. I am well used to two padel sessions, a gym session and an endurance session in a day, so the daily load did not hit me the way it might have. What I did notice was that the exercises were different enough to challenge the muscles in a new way, and for sure, each morning I felt it a little.

Monday was deliberately light, 12 to 15 reps, working within myself on day one. By Thursday it was single arm cleans, snatches and half kneeling presses at 6 reps, followed by drop jumps and broad jumps into single leg landings. That was the day to find out whether the court work held up when the legs were heavy.

One principle from that session I have not stopped thinking about. Do not train the imbalance. If the right side is weaker, use the right side's load on the left as well, and always start with the weaker side.

What I am taking from it

The overhead work and the rotation fix, and a much clearer idea of what my right side is doing under fatigue. Both of those are things I can keep working on at home rather than only in Valencia.

Next up is the LTA British Tour Grade 2 at Rocket Padel Beckton on 12 and 13 September, with Karen Nugent.

Thanks to Padel-Craft for backing this, to the coaches at VEST for a serious week of work, and to Head Ireland and everyone at Naas LTC.