Sandy Farquharson walks through a 10-minute pre-match routine for padel players: a journal to clarify tactics and goals, a 5-minute mobility warm-up focusing on core activation, a 2-minute footwork drill, and starting the match controlled rather than all-out. The routine is designed to eliminate inconsistent performance.
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Players really struggle with consistent performance on court. They either start slow, or sometimes they start fast and they play really well, but then they can't understand why the next set their level dips, and then the next day they play a completely different way. So in this video, I'm going to take you through a 10-minute pre-match or pre-training routine that is going to really guarantee that you will have a consistently good performance. The most important part of the pre-training or pre-match routine is getting clarity, and we We developed this training and match journal which you can actually find on Amazon, but if you're using your own journal that would work equally well. It's just asking yourself a few questions. So if you've got a match, we've got a match section where you go to the match section and there are some pre-match questions: your opponents, your partner, the tournament, some tactics you want to implement, some goals for the match, and just get real clarity. Spend 1 to 2 minutes going through this exercise so that when you step on the court you know what you're going to be focusing on. So many players go to the court without a clue of what their tactic is or what their goals are. And not only will you play a better match, but also it will give you a structure on how to improve your game. So I would spend 1 or 2 minutes, and if you write this down, you often retain the information better. And also you can reference it during your game. You just put this in your bag, it will help get you clarity, and that is absolutely key before you go on to the match. So now I've got clarity on what I'm going to do in the match, I'm going to spend 5 minutes doing a good warm-up with mobility, strength exercises. I will go onto our app because we have a 5-minute warm-up there that I use a lot for our competition. So I'm just going to set that up with my tripod, one of my favorite bits of kit. Whether you're a player or a coach, this is one of the most valuable bits of kit that I have, and I'm going to start my warm-up. So I feel pretty good, mobilized, and some good strength. Exercises there, particularly for the core, crucial for padel. I'm going to do 2 minutes of footwork exercises. So in our Faster Feet for Padel course, we've got 4-minute, 8-minute, 12-minute footwork sessions. I'm going to do 2 minutes of the 4-minute session again on the app. I'm going to keep it on my tripod here. I'm going to follow it along so I'm light on my feet, and therefore when I step on court, I'm going to be sharp. So I've got good clarity, spent a bit of time on my focus, I got mobilized and good strength warm-up before I started. I'm feeling sharp on my feet. I'm now going to head to the court and importantly start quite controlled. So I'm going to start light on my feet and controlling the ball. I'm not going to be hitting 100% right from the very beginning. And this is a great way for me to get consistent performance every single time. If I have that same great warm-up, I know that I will start the match in the same way. Players are always talking about the importance of consistency in their matches, but so few have a routine that is consistent before they step on court. If you want to play at a high level consistently, you need to do something consistent before you step on court. So give this routine a go. If you go to thepalschool.com, you can find our warm-up, you can find our footwork exercises, also where you can get the journal. And just give it a go, let us know down in the comments if it helps improve your game.
