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Padel Power Sweeping the World 07/26
Padel NGB Name Change - Scott Colebourne - The Padel Paper - El Remate
Rich Neher
June 29, 2026
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US Padel Association USA Padel News
Name change to USA Padel
 | The national governing body for U.S. padel has selected Tennibot's AI-powered ball machine as its preferred training technology, bringing autonomous, adaptive training to players, coaches, and clubs nationwide. The Tennibot Partner is the best padel ball machine for players who demand AI precision, total control, and high portability. |
USA Padel: A New Name for a Sport That's Been Building Quietly for 30 Years
By Scott Colebourne, Executive Director and CEO, USA Padel
Today we announced that the United States Padel Association is now USA Padel. A name change might not sound like front-page news, but for those of us who know the history of this sport in America, it represents something much bigger than a rebrand. It's a signal that padel in this country has reached a point where the infrastructure, the community, and the ambition have finally caught up with each other.
Let me take you back to where this started.
Padel was first brought to the United States by Ed Thompson and Felipe Arnold, who founded the American Paddle Association as the sport's first national governing body in the country. In 1993, the USA played its first international match against Canada and Mexico. A year later, in 1994, the organization sent a team to compete in the FIP World Cup for the first time. That commitment to showing up on the international stage has never wavered; the organization has been represented at every FIP World Championship since.
Think about that for a moment.
For more than three decades, through periods when most Americans had never heard the word "padel," a small group of people kept this thing alive. They organized tournaments, they fielded national teams, they maintained the institutional relationships with the International Padel Federation that gave the United States a seat at the table. That work didn't happen in the spotlight. It happened because people believed in the sport.
In 2007, Mike May, who served as association president for 20 years, renamed the organization from the American Paddle Association to the United States Padel Association, aligning with the internationally accepted spelling and reflecting the sport's growing national footprint. That was the right move at the right time. And today's change to USA Padel is the next step in that same evolution. |  Professional Tennis Registry (PTR): Padel is growing fast - and we want you to be part of it! |
So why now?
Because the sport in America has changed fundamentally, we've gone from a handful of courts to a nationwide community. More than a million Americans are now playing padel. We sanction over 250 tournaments annually, serving more than 10,000 competitive players, including the US Open Padel Championships. We support USA National Teams across all competitive categories. The growth isn't theoretical anymore; it's happening in clubs, in communities, and on courts across the country.
The name USA Padel reflects that reality.
It's direct, it's national, and it's built for what's coming next. As our President Bill Ullman put it, everything we've built has been in service of growing padel at every level, and the new name is a reflection of that mission.
But I want to be clear about something: we are the same organization. The same nonprofit governing body, the same leadership, the same membership structure, the same recognition from FIP and Padel America. As a 501(c)(3), we reinvest every dollar of net income back into the sport. From junior grants for play days at local clubs to elite international competition. The name changed. The mission didn't. What has changed is our pace and our ambition. In the coming months, we'll be announcing a series of partnerships, programs, platform investments, and a new logo that reflect where we're headed. We're building organizational infrastructure that matches the growth the sport is experiencing on the ground. We're moving fast, and we intend to keep moving fast. I came into this role with a background in racquet sports administration, and I've seen what happens when a sport reaches the tipping point that padel is approaching in the United States. The difference between sports that scale successfully and those that stall out almost always comes down to governance, structure, and the willingness to invest in the unsexy work of building systems. That's what we're doing. |  Ben Nichols: Fπ’π¨π₯ π¬πππ₯π¦ πππ’, π£ππππ πͺππ¦ π πͺπππ¦π£ππ₯ ππ‘ ππ₯ππ§πππ‘. That, back in '22, was the contrast. Two countries joined at the hip like no other, yet a few strides apart in their padel voyage. The contrast with where they both were matters. |
The people who kept this sport alive in America for 30 years - the Ed Thompsons, the Felipe Arnolds, the Mike Mays, and the countless volunteers and organizers who built this from nothing - they gave us the foundation. Our job now is to build on it in a way that honors that legacy and meets the moment.
USA Padel. Same mission, new chapter. And we're just getting started.
 | About the AuthorScott Colebourne is the Executive Director of the United States Padel Association and a twenty-year veteran of the racquet sports industry. He can be reached at [email protected]. |
The Padel Paper (UK)
Image: The Padel Paper
Image: The Padel Paper
El Remate
Club Padel Newtown just opened outside Cincinnati in Newtown, OH, marking the metro areaβs first dedicated outdoor padel facility in a region otherwise dominated by indoor and hybrid padel-pickleball setups. The club features four panoramic outdoor courts, alongside a full clubhouse with locker rooms, lounge space, and a pro shop. The club is rolling out leagues, clinics, junior programs, and tournaments, with booking already live via Playtomic.
Padel Shorts
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