The Joy of Padel podcast with Andi Neugarten (JOPS03E19)

This Joy of Padel 19th episode of Season 3 features Andi Neugarten, founder of Six Love Sports, the largest women’s padel community in the USA. Andi discusses her journey into padel, the sport’s growth in America, and her mission to empower women through padel. She shares insights on the social aspects of padel, the differences between US and European padel cultures, and her business model for building a thriving women’s padel community. The conversation also touches on the importance of communication in padel and Andi’s plans for international expansion.

Key points:

1. Padel’s unique ability to foster communication and trust between players, especially among women.

2. The growth of padel in the US and the development of a distinct American padel culture.

To find out more about Andi Neugarten:

• Find or follow Andi on Instagram: @aneugarten
• Find Andi on Linkedin
• And not least, do check out Andi’s 6Love, which also on Instagram

To listen to the show:

To listen to The Joy of Padel podcast, you can use the embedded player above, or go find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any number of other podcasting services listed here.

Send in your questions or reactions:

Please send me your questions — as an audio file if you’d like — to nminterdial@gmail.com. Otherwise, below, you’ll find the show notes and, of course, you are invited to comment. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to review and/or rate it! ¡VAMOS!

Further resources for The Joy of Padel:

Andi Neugarten | Anglo-American Cup | International padel | joy of padel | padel ambassadors | padel business model | Padel Coaching | padel communication | padel community | padel Culture | padel empowerment | padel entrepreneurship | padel events | padel growth | padel leagues | padel networking | padel Partnerships | padel philanthropy | padel podcast | padel social aspect | Padel Sponsorship | padel Strategy | padel Tournaments | padel trust | Six Love Sports | USA padel | women's padel

This transcription comes courtesy of Flowsend.ai, an AI service for podcasters.

Minter Dial: Hey, welcome to the Joy of Padel. We are Andi and Minter, and we have been playing at the Anglo-American Cup, the inaugural event. We’ve had a lot of fun playing, lots of Padel, but here we’re going to have a little bit of a fun focus on this lady’s great work with Padel, mostly in the United States. In your own words, Andi. Who are you?

Andi Neugarten: Well, thank you for having me. Lovely chatting. It’s been lovely meeting you in person and lovely chatting to you. My name is Andi Neugarten, and I’m the founder of Six Love Sports. We are the largest women’s Padel community in the USA, and we are going international. My whole mission is to elevate and empower women’s Padel. So, get more women on the court, get more women into Padel. And whoever is playing, I want them to elevate the games. So, whatever we can do to support them and resources and more play and just get them well.

Minter Dial: I love the fact that you use the word elevate, because my personal mission in life is to elevate the debate.

Andi Neugarten: I love that word.

Minter Dial: It is a good word. I was in South Carolina, in Charleston, and I was doing on a run, and I was thinking about what was going on, and I ran over a sign, but it was face down. So, I went back to the sign, turned it over, and it was elevator. I was like, that’s a sign. So, let’s elevate together. How did you get into Padel, Andi? Because, you know, in the United States, it’s not quite as common.

Andi Neugarten: Yes, it was kind of by mistake. So, I’m. I’m an athlete. I’ve been an athlete my whole life. I played tennis, football.

Minter Dial: This we can tell.

Andi Neugarten: Thank you. Thank you. I’m a triathlon. I’m a triathlete. I’m an Ironman triathlete. And I was kind of bored with my bike riding and running. I’ve run over 100 marathons. And I’d heard about this thing in Miami called Padel, and people were playing everywhere that you can drive by courts, all over. And it was like I couldn’t figure out how to get onto the court. I can’t show up and just say.

Minter Dial: I want to play.

Andi Neugarten: And I’m not a beginner. I knew I was not a beginner. So, I needed to find a place to have a lesson. I couldn’t. I mean, it took a while. And then I went on vacation to Barcelona, and we went Casta Brava, and I went to this most magnificent resort in Costa Brava. And they had some padel courts. So, I asked for a coach. I got onto the court and I played a little and I realized I wasn’t that good. But he kind of taught me some of the basics. And I came straight back to Miami and I managed to get somebody on the phone at Ultra to say, I’m not a beginner, put me into a clinic just to get rated. And I did. And they quickly changed my rating and I was able to stop playing. So. And the rest is history. I mean, I play three times a day, sometimes four.

Minter Dial: Wow.

Andi Neugarten: Don’t tell my husband.

Minter Dial: Yeah, I mean, usually you get lots of Instagram accounts showing how the man is sneaking out, but you are the woman sneaking out.

Andi Neugarten: He’s just happy I’m not shopping, so. But I’m spending way more money on pad.

Minter Dial: Right. So, one of the things that’s interesting about padel is that in many of the beginning markets, even the UK, let’s take other markets like that are sort of nascent. Denmark And so, on. Oftentimes it’s the men that sort of get in there, get interested in it. Whereas when you look in the United States, sorry, Spain, it’s. It’s mixed. Portugal, it’s mixed. 50-50 now. Sometimes even more. How did you get into and why did you get into having women be part empowering women in Padel?

Andi Neugarten: It was selfish because I wanted more women to play with for myself. And when I started playing, I realized I had some skills. I wanted to improve my game. I needed to play with some really nice level players. They weren’t easy to find. So, I started this little community and I was doing some weekly play and setting up these matches. It’s not always easy to set up matches. Everybody has a schedule. So, I was trying to do some regular play where we could all just get together and play. And then I realized, well, if I’m having the same problem, there are other girls who may be at a different level who are having a similar problem. So, my focus has just been on women, because.

Minter Dial: If you don’t take care of them, who is?

Andi Neugarten: Exactly. And I feel like the male market is also so big, it’s a whole different mission and strategic positioning. Whereas women, I understand, I know what they’re thinking, why they want to play, what they’re trying to achieve, and I can help.

Minter Dial: Well, I’d like to dig in on that because I’ve been playing Padel for a long time and I studied women’s studies at university, so it is a topic that interests me. How is Padel different for women than it is for men.

Andi Neugarten: I don’t know if it’s so different. Well, I think it’s way more social. So, one of the things about Padel is women love to connect with other women. And I feel like with Padel, it’s given us this kind of space to do so because you’re on a smaller court, you’re actually talking to each other. You have to communicate and you’re becoming friends. And then you have to make the effort to connect with other women, to make other matches. So, I think, I don’t know if it’s so different for women, but women spend a lot of time developing friendships and relationships. And Padel has. For me personally, it’s been part of my new friend network, my new friend ecosystem.

Minter Dial: I mean, if you look at it like another sport, like let’s say you’re training for a marathon. You’re. You’re running together for 10km, you might talk, but I feel it’s a little bit difficult to have a proper conversation. I get totally out of breath. I’m focused on my steps. Plus the rhythms may be different. I want to run it six-minute kilometers and you want to do five-minute kilometers. Well, it’s hard to stick together. And having interviewed many ladies and men on my podcast, it does feel like a pattern that the women talk much more about the quality of the relationship.

Andi Neugarten: They’re having fun as well. They’re on the court and they’re laughing and they’re talking and they’re having fun. So, it’s not, you know, at certain levels it gets very competitive and you’re very focused. But most of the time it’s just this very nice conversation and chatter and, you know, our next match and. And then of course the social side afterwards, where you have a glass of wine or you’re having a drink or.

Minter Dial: Something and of course you’re talking about. You may be talking about that. To what extent do you think there’s a padel culture and to what extent might that padel culture be different in the United States versus its origins, let’s say from Mexico, Argentina and Spain?

Andi Neugarten: I think, I think I’ve done a lot of traveling around Spain and I’ve visited many different courts and clubs. Not so much in Mexico, but I.

Minter Dial: Think just because it began.

Andi Neugarten: Yeah, yeah. But I think I look at Spain as the, like, alternate, like where we want to get to. And I think when I look at the clubs in Miami right now, they all started as just clubs. You go there and play Padel. And then they kind of had an add on. There’s a gym or there’s like a little restaurant place or a coffee shop. Whereas you go to Spain and it’s a whole. You can spend the whole day there. You go the spa, you go play padel. There’s a great restaurant. You don’t need to go anywhere else. And I think that the new clubs in Miami certainly are changing and across the USA and we’re going to see much more focus on the entire picture. So, you know, there’s a bar and you want to hang out there at.

Minter Dial: Night more the community feeling. Yeah. I talked to a padel club owner and he talked about how he’d rather have people just even come to watch a football match at the Padel Club rather than just think about it as a place to go play Padel.

Andi Neugarten: It’s a destination place.

Minter Dial: Yeah. And so, in terms of the culture of padel, do you feel there’s a US Specific culture? Because, of course, in the United States, we even pronounce the word differently.

Andi Neugarten: Padel.

Minter Dial: Padel.

Andi Neugarten: No, no, no.

Minter Dial: That’s how they say it.

Andi Neugarten: No, I’m with you. A. Yeah, it’s of course. No. When they say Padel, I’m like, no, it’s correct.

Minter Dial: But I mean, at the end of the day, it’s okay. I’m fine. Because I want every country to own it. And if they need to adapt to make it, I mean, the United States is growing fast. It’s getting there. I don’t know how many clubs or courts there are in the United States now.

Andi Neugarten: It changes so quickly, and there’s so many coming on board now. Interesting. Culture is different in every city. So, I live in Miami. Okay. The culture there is very Argentinian, South American, very different flavor. And then you go to different clubs, and it’s different in every single club. PadelX might not have such a big Argentinian feel as open. Padel Reserve might be a little bit more American focused, but many of the very top players. So, I think the culture’s changing. I think feel that the culture’s changing. You hear a lot of Spanish being spoken.

Minter Dial: Bonfire.

Andi Neugarten: But America is American. So, then you go to Charlotte or Charleston, and there’s going to be this more of an American field club. But then they bring in an Argentinian coach. Maybe that kind of changes the culture a little bit. So, I think that social element is going to be the next. The future of Padel in every club across the country.

Minter Dial: Right. So, let’s talk about your business that you’ve put together, Andy, where you’re focusing on Women and a community at the moment. Tell us how you’ve gone about creating the entrepreneurial journey that you’ve gone through.

Andi Neugarten: So you know when something kind of comes at you and it just. You see this opportunity, and not even opportunity, just this, like something that hits you, like had head on, right? And it’s like, I have to do this. And every single thing I’ve started to do, it’s kind of like a door. I’m thinking, like, what do I do next? And then the store opens and what I do next in the store. So, this is what this journey has been like. I’ve never had an experience like this in my life. So, it kind of came up as an idea of, like, I know there’s something bigger here. I want to create this community of women that are connected on and off the court. I feel that women supporting other women is the most powerful thing because strong women lift other women up. And I also realized through this community that it’s not only about what we do on the padel court. What do you do on the court? I want to know about you. I want to know about your business. I want to know about your children, your family, and let’s connect on a much deeper level. And then how can I help your business? So, I started off creating the community, and now the next phase is to figure out, well, what do you do and how can I support you and how can we all work together to lift each other up? So, six Love sport is. Six Love sports is more about the whole networking aspect. And there’s lots to come in terms of, yes, we do tournaments, leagues, round robins, events, activations, we support brands, but it’s more about the power of the global network that I want to be introducing in the next couple of years.

Minter Dial: All right, so tell us about the business model side of it. Obviously, you have to somehow make money out of this activity without it being transactional, because it’s not just about making money. It’s a much bigger topic. I know, but how do you look? What is the business model? Where do you see that developing?

Andi Neugarten: So the business model started from me just doing. Doing tournaments, events, charging an entry fee, and making sure that I was covering costs. And I’m not in this to make money. I don’t need. I wanted to cover all the costs. I spent a lot of money on marketing and social media and of course, and traveling and travel. And being at events like this is a big part of it because the networking opportunities are huge. But it wasn’t. It’s not about the Money. What I want to do is create this community, the idea, the business idea started to create this community that gives back and lifts all women up in terms of supporting pro players who maybe can’t travel to all the tournaments. Some of our top players at the beginning, absolutely. Until they really get sponsored, even with their sponsorships, sometimes they cannot afford to travel to all the tournaments because most.

Minter Dial: Of the good tournaments of course aren’t in the United States. Big tournaments.

Andi Neugarten: Exactly. So, how do we put together this academy or this. How do we get more kids on the court? How do I get more young girls? So, there’s kind of philanthropic part of what I’m doing that is working towards next year. That’s what I’m hoping to do more of is the kids on the court and supporting more of our top pros. But underlying that are the tournaments that I run weekly. Round Robinson and I put my heart and soul into everything that we do. So, when people sign up for my tournaments, you walk away with this elevated experience. There’s a beautiful goodie bag. We highlight all our sponsors. It’s not just shop and play your tournament, pay your $50. There are great prizes. We do a lot with some amazing sponsors and each tournament is different. So, there’s tournaments round Robbins. I try and do weekly stuff at different levels. So, I’m all about level based play. So, don’t mix advanced players with beginners. Let’s do a beginner section and then we’ll have a high intermediate group. The most successful part of what I started was the ladies league and I launched that in January of last of this year. We’re now in season three. We’re just finishing season three.

Minter Dial: Like my podcast season three.

Andi Neugarten: Each league runs for seven weeks. We have four teams. We started the first season with 120 ladies signed up. We’re now, we’ve capped it at 140. We’re about 160 for this season. We just cannot accommodate anymore.

Minter Dial: Right.

Andi Neugarten: Otherwise not successful. Season three has been so successful that I had to start a whole new group for a high beginner section. And I have 65 ladies signed up in that. So, the league in its total is over 220 ladies right now. But they pay a fee to be part of the league. They play seven weeks of matches. Week seven is a big final event. And so, what I wanted to do was have proof of concept. Let me show that there is this community. There’s a model, there’s a business model. My next phase is to, to get big sponsors. There’s a big Community, there’s a huge opportunity.

Minter Dial: I have a friend, Miriam Notkin, who created the community called Savvy Aunties. These were savvy aunties, okay. And so, these are ladies who never had children, but are aunts of children. And I enjoy chatting with her about that creation of the community. What makes Padel the sport that you think is best for creating a community of women?

Andi Neugarten: I don’t know if it’s necessarily the best, but for now, Padel is the hottest, fastest growing sport in the world. And it’s where my passion lies. So, there might be somebody else who is passionate about this auntie community that if your passion is in that and that’s what you put your heart and soul into. So, I think with the numbers around padel and the way that it’s growing in the world and even just looking at the US market, I mean, the rest of the world is so established.

Minter Dial: The reason why I say that is I have, let’s say, a priori idea that one of the strengths and the important parts of padel is communication, because you have to talk, you have to have a relationship if you want to actually be good together as a couple, as a pair. And I tend to believe that women are better communicators than men, and thus Padel is a perfect sport for this. That’s what I get. And when I interview my women players, the pro players like Alejandra Salazar or Amy Gibson most recently, they constantly talk about the need to communicate. And I mean, men will talk about it, but it’s not quite as important to men, this idea of communication, looking at each other in eyes, understanding each other, creating this bond, this trust. I mean, trust is an important thing for everybody, but somehow amongst women, it feels feels even stronger. And Padel is a tremendous conduit, a facilitator of if you don’t communicate, you’re screwed.

Andi Neugarten: You know, it’s interesting when you say that because as an endurance athlete, everything has always been me in my head, right? As you mentioned earlier. So, for me, communication is so damn hard. I have to make a huge effort and I really enjoy having someone on the court who is a better communicator than me and yells at me. And I have to like, okay, my.

Minter Dial: Concept that I’ve been developing in my mind is that it takes being generous. The communication on a padel court. It’s yours, mine. It’s actually more that at some moment you’re paint-able. I’m not going to look at you and see if you’re going to fuck it up. Or play what shot you’re going to play.

Andi Neugarten: I need to trust and turn and face the other way, focus on what.

Minter Dial: They’re doing and graciously tell you what they’re doing. I think they’re doing this, this, that and the other. And that’s the communication. And that spirit of I’m there for you is what I think makes the padel thing more just delicious.

Andi Neugarten: I love that idea. I think you’re spot on. Yeah, absolutely. It’s looking the other way when the bull’s coming and just know you’re. And she might fuck it up, of course, but. And that’s okay.

Minter Dial: Well, it is. You have to get over it.

Andi Neugarten: You know, I might mess up the next shot. Exactly.

Minter Dial: And having that grace. And the reason why I’m particularly keyed up on padel these days is that I feel in society we are missing grace. We need to elevate the whole of society to say we can all learn from each other, that we can all begin to learn to retrust one another. Which is not the biggest suit. I would say that we’re playing in today’s world.

Andi Neugarten: Great concept. Yeah. Maybe Padel will be that. Right.

Minter Dial: I think that. And I think that as you say, when women get involved, I mean in let’s say old fashioned world, because I’m not supposed to say this, but behind every great man is a great woman. But the fact is that we are different and the women’s play is different than men’s play where you watch how the pro women.

Andi Neugarten: It’s so much more graceful.

Minter Dial: Who do you like to watch play?

Andi Neugarten: Delphi and Gemma.

Minter Dial: Dely. Unbelievable.

Andi Neugarten: And I love watching Araceli and Noah. Not Noah. On her partner’s name. Sorry, forgive me.

Minter Dial: It’s okay.

Andi Neugarten: French.

Minter Dial: Oh yeah. Araceli and Alex Colombo.

Andi Neugarten: Thank you.

Minter Dial: Yeah, exactly. I’ve watched them play. I’ve had Alex my podcast. It was her first name and my mom’s the first name. Alix. So, that and plus I got the.

Andi Neugarten: French scene going on.

Minter Dial: All right, so you’ve got this plan to build this community and you’ve got these clubs you’re working with. How about the international plan?

Andi Neugarten: So I am South African. I, I was born in South Africa. I’m American now, but I have strong roots in South Africa.

Minter Dial: So South Africa padel is booming.

Andi Neugarten: It’s booming. I just, just appointed a South African ambassador. So, she’s going to launch six Love Sports in South Africa. There are a couple other international countries that I am in advanced negotiations.

Minter Dial: How does one become an ambassador? What does it mean to be an ambassador.

Andi Neugarten: So what I did was I realized that for me to grow six love sports, I needed to recreate more me in different parts of the country.

Minter Dial: Many me.

Andi Neugarten: Yes. So, I went on and I asked people. I wanted somebody social, who loved padel, was completely addicted, wanted this to be part of their lives. And I found some amazing people in the US and internationally. And what they do is they come on board, I support them 100%. It’s like a mini franchise model where I basically set them up to run their own show, but it’s all give them ideas and we work together on everything. So, I help them with sponsorship and branding and social media. But yeah, it’s been, you know, people have referred other women to me and I do want women because I think that’s the most important. I need a woman.

Minter Dial: If someone’s listening and you’re a woman and you would like to be thinking about developing a community of women Padel players in your country.

Andi Neugarten: Exactly.

Minter Dial: Get in touch with New Garten. And then finally, let’s just talk about the Anglo-American Cup. You are wearing a blue shirt, I’m wearing a red shirt.

Andi Neugarten: I love it. I look better in red.

Minter Dial: We can switch, you know, like when. After you take off shirts. But what’s it been like for you to be part of the Anglo-American Cup? What do you think of this type of a tournament?

Andi Neugarten: I love this. I’m so excited to be here. Number one, I love representing the USA. It’s always been, I mean, it’s a dream, right. I started wear the flat. Yeah, it’s. And it’s a, you know, it’s a big deal for me as a South African with a new home and. But I mean, to be at my age, and I am sort of older years, but to be representing my country, it’s something that I’m so passionate about and to be able to play at this level and to improve my game every day, it’s really a dream. I love London again, with my strong South African roots, being in London. And I love speaking to you because I speak properly and I can say these things, English words that people actually understand what I say in America. My husband doesn’t understand what I say half the time.

Minter Dial: Well, just. I’m sure he understands plenty.

Andi Neugarten: Yeah, he says enough.

Minter Dial: However, there, you know, it’s funny things. There’s a bunch of South Africans here too. I’ve seen, you know, we all have sort of somewhat hybrid personalities. You know, they immigrants, you know, some of us. Immigration means that we have hybrid identities and. But there are a bunch of South Africans who and I have a tremendous friend who’s just starting a club up in Cape Town. And Josh, great South African friend. So, I’ve learned about South African community. So, go for that. And when are we going to play tomorrow? Let’s do it. Okay. Andy, it’s been a pleasure having you on. Tell us where can people find out more about your community, get in touch with you? What are the go-to calls to action?

Andi Neugarten: So on Instagram at six Love Sports, it’s number six Love Sports with an S on the end. I answer every message. So, if you want to ask me anything, just send a message on Instagram and or you can email me. Andyandi6lovesports.com Beautiful, Andy. Thank you.

Minter Dial: UN plater.

Andi Neugarten: Amazing. Thank you.

Minter Dial: Now tune in for next one.