Making Racket About Padel

Tucked away in a residential part of Chofu, Captain Tsubasa Padel court is home to one of the increasing number of padel courts in Japan and the location of our interview with pro padel player Leon Aurelius Taira ‘19. A fixture on ASIJ’s tennis courts, former Boys Varsity captain Leon initially seemed to be on track to pursue a career in the more familiar racket sport. When Leon, who used the surname Hoy at school, first encountered padel as a child he thought it was cool, but it wasn’t until he rediscovered it later that his trajectory changed from tennis to one of the fastest growing sports.

Typically played in doubles on an enclosed court, the sport originated in Mexico in the late sixties and now counts more than 25 million players in over 90 countries. Recently included in the 2023 European Games, the sport is on track to achieve its goal of becoming an Olympic sport for the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane.

We spoke to Leon, who was 2019 Junior National Team Captain and has played for the Japan National Adult A Men's Team since 2020, about his pathway to discover his passion for padel and how he is combining that with studies and running his own business.

MW: How did you discover padel? What was your journey into the sport?

LT: I used to play tennis competitively my whole life, including during my ASIJ years. When I went to Spain in fourth grade or fifth grade is when I actually met padel for the first time. I vividly remember how it was in Barcelona, when I went to my tennis academy, there were just a lot more people playing padel than tennis, so I was super surprised. I asked my coach about it because I’d never heard, never seen this sport before. And he also told me that padel was more popular than tennis already in Spain. So I tried it out with my coach and I loved. There was nothing like it in Asia at that time, so it was just one of those, you know, core memories from Barcelona for like a long time.

MW: When did you pick it up agan?

LT: I think it was mid 11th grade or 12th grade when I knew I would go to university and I had it all sorted out and I had a little bit more relaxed time on my hands. At that time, basically I toned down a little bit on tennis. I was focused more on academics and pursuing other things, but I always loved competitive sports and I missed that competitiveness of things. So I was looking to get back into tennis to compete more in college, but then one of my old coaches remembered me playing padel, and he called me up and he said, you know, one of the places I work built a padel court in Tokyo for the first time. Then I just fell in love with this sport. I never saw myself playing competitively, but things happened one after the other. I ended up competing, went to Junior World champs, and then I continued to compete in Japan. Now I play professionally in Asia and other parts of the world.

MW: How do you balance playing professionally with continuing to study? You're still pursuing a degree at
Keio, right?

LT:  It's my last semester, actually. I don't know if I'm the best example, but I took a lot of gap years, took a lot of semesters where I like, you know, did half the credits, didn't do full credits. I don't want to say Covid was a good thing for me because it was tough for a lot of people, but it did kind of help me out because a lot of the online focus transferred into me being able to compete. I think it was just being honest and communicating with my teachers and professors helped, because Keio doesn't have an official release for professional events. So it was more just me going to them very clearly at the beginning of the semester, explaining what I'm doing.

MW: How did you decide to make the move from just playing for fun to going pro?

LT: I think it was my third year of university when I wanted to take a gap year and see other parts of the world. I was born and raised in Tokyo, and I never lived outside of Tokyo. My whole life I'd been traveling, I'd been competing with tennis all over. But I really wanted an experience, one to just learn a new language and to broaden my world view. So I decided to move to Spain for a year. And at that time, I wanted to try to do it myself. So I cold called and cold emailed all these different companies asking for a partnership or a sponsorship. And I was able to fund my year and a half there in Spain, fully from the support of Japanese corporations. I was probably the first one in Japan to ever actually make money out of padel. So that was my experience. Those companies still sponsor and help me out today. But that was like my first step where I decided, okay, you know what? It was fun competing. But now I compete for life too.

MW: What would you say your strongest shot is?

Leon: I have this shot called the vibora, or called the snake shot. You basically hit the ball with a lot of spin and it bounces low against the walls. I'm obviously not the tallest player in Asia, but I think my speed and agility and my, you know, that shot as a basis really is effective and it helps me out with my game a lot.

MW: A lot of young athletes talk about mental health in sport. How do you prepare mentally to play in matches and tournaments?

LT: Personally, trying not to prepare too much and overthink is really important for me. I'm not playing at a level like, let's say soccer, American football or basketball, for example. Obviously, it's a very quickly growing sport and it is a sustainable lifestyle, but it's nothing extraordinary like some other sports…. my whole theory is that I want to prepare the best I can, but I don't want my preparation to be an excuse for not performing at tournaments. So I think that mentality helps me a lot—as in, I'm confident in my preparation but also I acknowledge that things that I didn't think would happen could happen.

MW: What do you do between tournaments?

LT: As an athlete, I think I'm unique because I combine my sponsorships with actually helping these companies expand overseas. So I actually run a few businesses myself, but mainly we help with the export of Japanese quality products. For example, one of my main sponsors is Sakai Takayuki, which is a famous knife brand in Osaka. They target professional chefs and knives for all the well-known restaurants in Japan. I also have a matcha brand and I work with wagyu, for example. I combine the network of people I meet through padel with helping these Japanese businesses expand overseas. So for me, it's like a combination. I think padel helps my business, and my business also helps me continue as a padel player.

MW: What's the most impactful thing that a coach has said to you?

LT: Oh, that's a good question. My Spanish coach told me a lot that, as much as it is important to push things, it's also important to know the timing of letting things go and pulling back. And that was quite an important lesson for me, because I think as a kid I was pretty good at doing more and always trying to just do more in a lot of ways. And I think I found it in my game and in my life that I can get quite easily overpacked. I like to push myself a lot. In padel, for example, they taught me it also requires a lot of skill to pull back. So as an athlete, it's important to manage some times to rest well, sometimes even in your game of padel too. Not always playing fast and aggressive, but sometimes it's important to play slow and defensive because the times you play slower, or the times that you slow down your life sometimes actually helps you to take a step back and accelerate in some other area. So I think in my life, what I value now a lot is just not only trying to, you know, push a lot of things, but it's important to take a rest, take a step back, and kind of look at yourself from a bird's eye view.

MW: Looking back on your time at ASIJ, what were the standout parts of your experience?

LT: Well, overall, I think all my teachers were super nice and I was there since elementary school. So that's 12 years, right? It gave me quite a diverse and global mindset because I think a lot of teachers never really said ‘no’ in a good way…. Actually one of my biggest strengths as a person is sales, presenting in front of people. I think I found I had a lot of passion for that since I was a kid. But I vividly remember that even in elementary school we had presentations, we had debates and activities that really pushed you to present your opinion to others.

MW: Who are your sporting heroes?

LT: Keisuke Honda for sure. Keisuke is actually a good friend of mine. I admire his approach to doing sports and business in Japan, he's very prominent in that. The ways we pursue business are quite different, but I think he teaches me a lot. And then I respect the way he thinks and his visionary mindset.

MW: How did you get connected?

LT: I actually worked for him. He had some job posting, which I did not qualify for, but I decided to apply. And then I went in there and they thought it was hilarious. I said a lot of good things but they said the position was more for someone in what they described as the defensive side of the business. They said they were not trying to take an offensive approach. I'm not a defensive person, so I didn't think I was their guy either. So it was weird because I applied for something I wasn't supposed to do, and I just kind of half rejected them. But I'm pretty sure Keisuke heard about it. And thought it was hilarious. And that was the start. I met him and since then we've done a few projects together.

MW: What would you say your long term goals are?

LT: Well, I mean, padel was actually officially selected for the Asian Games in 2030 in Qatar. It's already been selected for Europe and in Africa too. So I think expanding in Asia is the next step. And then padel is planning to get into the Olympics in 2032 — knock on wood hopefully in Brisbane. I think the biggest thing for me is I want to set a good example of how athletes can play sports, but not only limit themselves to sport, but also strive in a business field and world too. A lot of gold medalist Olympian champions, people who've been amazing athletes, struggle in their second career, and quite a lot of them don't have work. Some of them have mental health issues because they seem like they already peaked in their 20s. I saw very horrible examples of athletes' post-professional careers, and I think sports sounds super cool and being an athlete sounds super cool when you are playing, but it's also very important to see which direction your life is heading. So my goal in my twenties is there's a few products I do already that I want to help expand. Obviously starting a business myself is one thing, but I would like to reach a point in my twenties where I can do at least one exit of a company — so build it enough to be able to sell and have that as a track record. And from my thirties, I think I want to continue my entrepreneurship and go into projects that connect a lot of different people through sports within Asia, out of Asia too, and develop global business.

MW: What advice would you give to somebody from ASIJ looking to go into either business or sport?

LT: I think it is to take the initiative. Don't wait for people to give you opportunities because opportunities are made by yourself. I believe that 100%. I think if you go to ASIJ, you're already quite qualified, as in you're well rounded enough, you're educated, you have a global mindset. I think ASIJ gives you the fundamentals of what you need to thrive.