Andi Neugarten-Maio interview: 6LoveSports founder outlines vision for new Women’s Padel League in US

Andi Neugarten-Maio, chief padel addict and founder of Miami-based 6LoveSports, is focused on increasing women’s participation in padel across the US. In an interview with Padel Business Magazine, she casts her vision of a nationwide Women’s Padel League and discusses how vital women are to the sport’s growth in the States.

After falling in love with padel a year ago, Andi Neugarten-Maio wants to build a community to help women play and network.

Having started playing tennis at the age of five, the American businesswoman hadn’t played in years when she discovered padel. It took her three months from when she first started thinking about it to find a club and play.

After finally getting on the court, she fell in love because of the challenge and social aspects. It can be intimidating, she admits, even as a former tennis player to make that first most important step onto the court.

Neugarten-Maio won the inaugural US Open Padel Championships Division 2 at Padel Haus in New York last October. However, her difficulties finding games, especially with other women, have motivated her to establish a community focused on connecting women who want to play.

Building a community based on prior experience

Neugarten-Maio’s company 6LoveSports is striving to build an environment where women are not only playing each other but are connecting and helping each other, on and off the court. More than just a venue for competition, Neugarten-Maio wants its new Women’s Padel League to promote collaboration, networking, and empowerment among the women participating.

“I’m trying to build that community of inclusiveness, where people actually look to each other before they look outside of the community when they need something,” she explains.

Neugarten-Maio is well-equipped to lead the charge. Her background includes over 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and business executive.

She founded and ran Alii Sport, a sports fashion apparel brand for athletic women, for 10 years. Once she became obsessed with the sport, it only made sense for her to establish a padel league based on her marketing and business acumen.

Miami, an ideal hub for the Women’s Padel League

The Women’s Padel League, the first of its kind in Miami, began on January 16th. It’s set to run for six weeks, matching up women on four teams and three different skill levels.

Over 130 people have signed up to play, with each team having at least 30 players. Neugarten-Maio emphasises how the community has pulled together to create an “event experience”.

Reserve Miami at SoLé Mia, the venue for the first match, hosts monthly wellness markets that complement the social aspect 6LoveSports is promoting.

Music, vendors, photography, smoothies, and more are featuring to encourage socialisation. Pura Vida, one of several vendors supporting the endeavour, is hosting a happy hour before the matches begin.

Miami is the perfect place to start this type of community. The climate and number of clubs allow padel players to find games year-round.

Known as the padel capital of the US, the city boasts the highest concentration of padel clubs in the country with close to 100. Miami is home to Ultra Club, the largest padel club in the States featuring 15 indoor courts and 12 outdoor courts.

Miami is also the birthplace of RacquetX. The annual conference attracts over 5,000 attendees, featuring various companies and experts involved in racquet sports. The second edition will occur in March, offering fans, sponsors, and clubs an opportunity to collaborate.

Neugarten-Maio aims to blend Miami’s padel fervour with a segment she says is grossly underserved. Almost 40% of padel players globally are women, according to the International Padel Federation (FIP)’s first World Padel Report, published in May 2024.

A nationwide Women’s Padel League

Neugarten-Maio’s vision for the Women’s Padel League is for a national competition. It would be set up between several teams of women playing each other by skill level.

“I’m planning to launch this on the West Coast in a couple of months’ time. And then hopefully in the middle of the country just following,” she reveals. “I think there are enough padel hubs that are growing fast, again with communities for women, who might have a smaller community than Miami but will certainly have the interest and the means to do a Women’s League like this”.

She believes women's padel will skyrocket within the next two to three years. The US has a blend of favourable conditions such as the number of potential players, increased investments, and an exploding number of courts being built.

Current limitations based on available courts

There’s plenty of room for growth nationwide with the US home to only 3% of the roughly 62,000 padel courts worldwide, according to FIP data. Catching up to the mature markets in Europe may not be feasible anytime soon, but Neugarten-Maio wants to help facilitate better access in the States.

Compared to her area in Miami, where she has four or five courts within five minutes of her house, most padel players spend a significant amount of time finding available courts. Playtomic’s most recent Global Padel Report shows that across the world 88% of players are willing to travel and 90% play at multiple clubs.

In the existing landscape, women can struggle to find other women to play with at equal levels of competition.

“Women want to play more and they’re looking for ways to play more. And play at the right level,” says Neugarten-Maio. “Nobody wants to walk onto the court and you’re playing somebody that’s too good or somebody that’s much worse than you”.

Shedding an elitist persona and improving access through community outreach

Accessibility is a key component Neugarten-Maio wants to improve so padel can reach its potential in the US.

She believes the sport must shed its elitist persona to achieve this. Areas that have clubs may have expensive membership packages or fees to play. She would like padel courts in public parks or at affordable facilities for any income level.

As well as making it easier for anyone to find a game, she says getting young women into the sport is also vital to growing the sport further.

6LoveSports plans to reach out to local schools to spark interest in the sport with younger age groups. The initial target is to start with high school.

Neugarten-Maio says women tennis players in high school would be the most natural group to attract to padel. “We have to target young women, certainly in junior schools, but in high schools, these young women who play tennis are never going to go to college to play, but could be really good at padel”.

She believes getting them onto the court for the first time and helping them experience the social aspects of the game would do wonders to grow the sport.

The next phase would be to go into elementary and middle schools. Neugarten-Maio would love to connect with physical education programmes and bring kids to clubs during the afternoon when they are less busy. The kids could take PE classes at the clubs while improving vital skills such as hand-eye coordination.

Laying the foundation for sustainable growth

Additionally, 6Lovesports has planned initiatives to spread the game to women in the local Miami community. The organisation will host beginner clinics and forums.

For women less familiar with the game, the forums will cover essentials, from how to get started, to understanding the rules, to encouraging them to come to clinics. As a certified Padel MBA coach, Neugarten-Maio wants the clinics to teach the fundamentals and nurture women’s interest in the sport.

Neugarten-Maio says it can be daunting for someone to understand the basic principles if they don’t have any guidance. Through a blog on its website, 6LoveSports covers these aspects like what shoes to wear, what racquet to play with, and what clothes to wear for women curious to learn.

Beyond the Women’s Padel League

Eventually, Neugarten-Maio would love padel to have a figure like Serena Williams that young women can look up to and emulate, but admits it will take years to get to that point.

However, she is optimistic based on the current trajectory that women’s padel can reach the status of tennis. She says it will take a team effort, but believes the sport has the right people, the right attitude, and the right motivation to move it forward.

Her vision doesn’t end there. Neugarten-Maio believes the momentum of padel both in the US and worldwide will lead to its inclusion in the Olympics within 10 years.

She also sees women reaching numbers that rival men’s participation in padel, going from 40% to 50% with help from community outreach and collaboration.

Growth will come naturally, based on her projections. And women will be the catalyst. “My big focus has always been that you bring powerful women together and you watch magic happen. We’ve got the ball rolling, and I don’t think you can stop this train.”

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