Takapuna-based Julian Brown has been a member of the board of the Takapuna Beach Business Association, is a keen surfer and was a competitive paddle boarder (he’s also been known to paddle to Rangitoto and back from Takapuna Beach), and has had a long career in property investment and development. Christine Young talks to Julian about a new venture that at first sight seems a radical departure into sports management.
Through his companies in the United Kingdom and Germany Julian led the acquisition, development and management of 60 properties in London, Germany and Poland, including office, small and big-box retail, logistics and more than 1,250 residential units. Back here, as founder and managing director of Kauri Advisors, he has worked on social housing, marae, and commercial projects, and in an advisory capacity on many more.
Julian is now applying his extensive experience to Pacific Padel, which he describes as “an opportunity to become involved in something that involves sport, recreation and fun”.
Padel is a racquet sport relatively unknown in New Zealand – to date – but Julian and his South African and Swedish investment partners are aiming to change all that with Pacific Padel, set up to bring to New Zealand the game that he describes as “huge” overseas, and that is fast overtaking other racquet sports as the game of choice for players of all ages and abilities.
In mid-October, Julian was freshly back from a trip to Spain, currently the epicentre of the padel phenomenon, where he researched and built business relationships with key suppliers to his new venture. He was buzzing with enthusiasm about the potential of padel, which is played on a glass-and-cage encased court about one third the size of a tennis court, but with much the same relative dimensions. The rules are essentially the same as those in tennis, but the game is played with a shortened racquet (38mm thick, with a polystyrene inside and coated with carbon-fibre), a tennis ball that is nine percent softer than a regular ball, and uses an underhand serve; the latter two attributes help slow the game down, and make for longer rallies than in tennis.
The whole game, he enthuses, is more suited to general enjoyment than tennis, and is great for racquet players who think their playing days are over. However, that hasn’t stopped the development internationally of a couple of well-financed and highly competitive professional tournament circuits, nor several booking apps for courts that also include the facility for players of all levels to develop a ranking score so they play against other similarly talented (or not) padel players.
“It’s faster to pick up than any other racquet sport,” says Julian. “There’s less running, more hitting and longer rallies.” At the same time, he admits the glass and cage walls can be unfamiliar to begin with, as the ball can bounce once off the court, or twice off and onto the walls, at any angle. “It takes the first game to adjust to. There is a technique to hitting off the back wall,” which he attempts to demonstrate in his office, making it, to an uninitiated interviewer, look extremely challenging and more like calculating and instantly responding to angles on a pool table.
Julian first played 20 years ago in Spain, when the game quite different from padel today: the court and racquet construction have since evolved significantly, along with the game itself. He’s been monitoring the development of padel since returning from London where he saw it becoming bigger internationally. Last year, he visited South Africa where a friend had started a club, and was inspired and excited by the buzz among social groups as they played and watched games.
He thought New Zealand was missing out, wondered when it was coming – and decided to bring it here himself. Anyone can set up a court, he says, including in a private garden, but to do it “properly” there is a substantial capital outlay involved – and this property developer is determined to do it properly.
Padel is mostly played as doubles, and most padel clubs come complete with coaching professionals, merchandise sales, café, and facilities to watch other players while waiting for your turn. “We’re setting up clubs,” he says, “[with] the whole environment and ecosystem around it: coaching, tournaments, pro shop, merchandise and refreshments.”
He’s thrilled to announce that the first Pacific Padel club will be at the Albany Tennis Centre, on land adjacent to the BMX track. Work has just started on footings for six courts, and Pacific Padel will open with four courts in January, if not sooner, weather conditions and construction permitting. The frames and glass for eight courts arrived in mid-October in containers from manufacturer Padel Galis in Spain. Six are for Pacific Padel; the other two are for private buyers. “There are two parts to the [Pacific Padel] business: running clubs and selling courts to other buyers,” Julian explains, with Pacific Padel having exclusive distribution rights to Padel Galis courts in New Zealand and the Pacific.
Julian is confident that people will take to the game (which was first developed in Mexico in 1969) in New Zealand as they have overseas, and of the success of his new venture. For his part, he says, this venture is not entirely new; he’s dealing with the property development side and has key people in place to run other parts of the business: for example, ex-All Black Troy Flavell, who visited Spain with Julian in September, is chief operating officer; and Jade Lewis, former tennis professional, is involved with coaching and membership. Jeff Simpson, former pro tennis player and New Zealand Davis Cup team captain, and now Tennis Northern academy director, is assisting in developing the coaching programme. The company is now looking for tennis coaches who want to become padel-certified, and for full and part-time staff as it gears up to open its first courts in Albany.
“I don’t think there’s any question about it being popular,” he says. While Pacific Padel may not be the first organisation to open a court in New Zealand, it certainly has ambitious aims: 25 clubs throughout New Zealand within three to four years, each club having a minimum of four courts, but with up to eight. Julian and his team have already lined up potential sites, have an agreement with another tennis club north of the bridge, and are talking to another “eight or nine” clubs.
It seems that the tennis world has seen the way of the future; the numbers of tennis players are declining here and internationally, and clubs are embracing padel, pickle ball and pop tennis as alternatives to offer players as they retreat from the larger court and more energetic form of the game. Riverside Sports, previously Mt Wellington Tennis Club, has recently introduced pop tennis – very similar to padel but without the glass and cage surround. New Zealand Tennis, in its Strategic Framework 2023-28, notes international trends towards, among other things, “moving away from intense competition to social, inclusive and joy-based activity” and notes that in addressing this and other trends, tennis considerations might include alternative forms of tennis, like padel and pickleball.
“I think the sport is a winner,” says Julian. “If you watch it a couple of times, you want to play this. People’s reactions are incredible. I saw passion, enthusiasm, addiction coming around the globe…. I wanted to play it in New Zealand. I’ve done a lot of property-related business in my time. This felt like a breath of fresh air; people having so much fun. It’s a no-brainer. Kiwis are going to love it.”
