Padel Alley co-founders on selecting Tucson for flagship club and integrating with local community

Juan Carlos Quiroz Zolezzi and Oscar Quiroz, co-founders of Padel Alley, are taking a grassroots approach to establishing a padel club in Tucson, Arizona. In an interview with Padel Business Magazine, the brothers discuss how they used their real estate experience to find and develop the site of Padel Alley, their plans once open, and how they are cultivating an active community through giving back.

Once Padel Alley opens near downtown Tucson, it will be the largest dedicated padel club in the area.

It will feature eight padel courts, four pickleball courts, a large parking lot, and amenities to enhance the experience for guests. The clubhouse has a terrace bar, showers, a fully stocked pro shop, and a cafe.

The process to build their flagship padel club has taken brothers Juan Carlos Quiroz Zolezzi and Oscar Quiroz longer than expected, as they found the site in September 2023. They are confident the 18-month process to develop the club will have been worth it once the facility is open to the public.

Their extensive real estate experience prepares them to deal with setbacks related to permitting and city regulations. The brothers have been business partners in real estate for almost 20 years. They moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s and found success in the real estate market there.

After discovering padel separately in 2021, Juan Carlos in their native Hermosillo, Mexico, and Oscar in Granada, Spain, the brothers began planning to build a padel club in the US.

“When Oscar returned from Spain to LA there were no public courts nearby”, Juan Carlos tells Padel Business Magazine. “The closest one was Taktika in San Diego, and it is like an hour and a half drive for Oscar there. And he said, ‘you know what? This sucks. We really need to do something about it. I think people will like it’”.

Selecting Tucson for a flagship padel club

In the search for a market to build their padel club, the brothers settled on Tucson for a few reasons. Juan Carlos explains that, with its proximity to the US, Mexicans from Hermosillo frequently travel to Tucson to shop and sightsee.

Hermosillo already has a strong padel culture with around 150 courts in the city. Padel players making the trip from Mexico to Tucson, he says, will be itching to play somewhere and play at their club.

Another reason for selecting Tucson is its reputation as a business-friendly city. Entrepreneur Magazine has recognised it as a top five emerging entrepreneurial hub. Local resources such as Startup Tucson and the University of Arizona’s Center for Innovation provide valuable support to new businesses.

Finally, Tucson is known as a sports town with an affinity for racquet sports. The University of Arizona is located about 5 miles away from Padel Alley and its sports teams draw tens of thousands of attendees from the local community.

Tucson already features a highly active and enthusiastic racquet sports community. It features long-standing organisations such as Tucson Racquet & Fitness Club, established in 1967, with large facilities catering mainly to tennis and pickleball.

Juan Carlos believes the fast growth of pickleball in the US is a major reason for padel’s late adoption in cities like Tucson. “My theory is that there is no padel because of pickleball. People are so into pickleball. They were very focused. They were not looking at other options”.

He believes Padel Alley will be successful because of how much traction padel has gained in the US in a short time. Membership of the United States Padel Association (USPA) has grown at an annual compound rate of 85% over the past four years, rising to 1,917 in 2024, according to the USPA’s 2024 Annual Report.

Tucson, Juan Carlos states, is ripe for a padel club that provides quality courts everyone can play on and brings the community together through initiatives in which they will be involved.

Creating a feeling of inclusivity

Juan Carlos and Oscar are making it a point to integrate Padel Alley within the local community, starting with its name.

The brothers explained how they grew up playing sports in the streets of Hermosillo for fun, in an environment where anyone could join in. They chose the name Padel Alley to evoke the same feeling of inclusivity that can be missing at some padel clubs around the US.

“The padel clubs are very exclusive”, the brothers said. “Only for the wealthy and high lifestyle. And we don't like that. We think this is a sport that everyone can play. So we want to create padel for the masses”.

Part of their strategy to be a welcoming presence in Tucson is to host events that attract different types of people. They will have a community organiser on their team, responsible for planning events like tournaments and leagues for all age groups and genders.

Padel Alley will aim to work with the other padel clubs in the area, not compete against them. The brothers mentioned the creation of an Arizona Padel Collective, a group comprising padel club owners based in Arizona.

It is meant for the owners to stay in touch and collaborate in ways that boost padel membership for all the clubs. The goal, Juan Carlos says, is to expand the collective to include clubs in other states on the West Coast.

In addition, during its opening week, Padel Alley will host several events to attract guests. “We are going to have one full week of events”, Juan Carlos explains. “We're going to do several events that will be free. There's going to be ‘Intro to Padel’ events and others to create a market there. We want to make sure everything is user-friendly”.

Giving back to the local community

As members of Rotary International for over 20 years, the brothers are passionate about giving back to the local community through their padel club.

Rotary International is a global humanitarian organisation that brings business and community leaders together through service and goodwill. Their involvement in the organisation has greatly impacted their philosophy in life and plans with the courts.

Of the eight padel courts, Padel Alley will feature three courts with a specific cause attached to them. One of the courts will be painted yellow and blue for the colours of Rotary International and include a QR code that explains what it does worldwide.

Another of the courts will be dedicated to nonprofit organisations in Tucson. Padel Alley plans to work with organisations like the American Cancer Society each month to help raise awareness and support for those nonprofits.

A third padel court will be dedicated to raising awareness for emergency personnel. It will feature a US flag somewhere on the court to celebrate the commitment of emergency personnel like the Air Force, the police, and firefighters. Each month, the personnel group will rotate to highlight their role in the community.

“With padel”, Oscar explains, “it's such a big community element. Bringing this in, it just makes perfect sense. You know, we are part of a community, we want to be a part of the community, we want to give back to the community”.

Dealing with delays in opening

The biggest challenge the brothers have faced with opening Padel Alley has been dealing with the city. The project began in September 2023 and was initially planned to open in the autumn of 2024, but delays have pushed back the timeline.

A project of this scope and size, Oscar says, takes input from a lot of people. Since Padel Alley is a newly constructed club built on the site of a veterinary clinic and not another structure with courts already, it has required an immense collaborative effort.

“I don't think any city official, not even architects and engineers, know what this is”, says Oscar. “When you finally submit something to the city, they don't even know how to address it. And that whole process can become very complicated and it takes a lot of creativity and problem solving”.

The brothers declare the wait will be worth it. They will enjoy welcoming everyone from the community who has been waiting for a padel club with the amenities Padel Alley has to offer.

To help build excitement for its opening, Padel Alley features Padel Icons, ambassadors for the club. They are enthusiastic about the sport and have played in tournaments in Mexico, wearing Padel Alley-branded shirts.

Expansion plans beyond Tucson

After Padel Alley opens, the brothers plan to open other clubs on the West Coast with the same concept. Due to their roots in real estate in Los Angeles, Juan Carlos and Oscar plan to open the next club in Rancho Cucamonga, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles.

Other possible cities for future Padel Alleys include San Diego and Phoenix. They also hope to host a USPA tournament in the future. Regardless of the location of Padel Alley, their main goal is to maintain an inviting and inclusive environment for anyone interested in playing padel.

“The main idea is we want everyone to play padel and we want the best to win and we want padel for all”.

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