Tournament FAQ – Understanding Sell Outs

Who organises these tournaments?
The tournaments are organised by Padel New Zealand , the governing body of padel in Aotearoa, in partnership with the hosting club. Padel New Zealand sets the overall structure, rules, maximum allocations, and ensures compliance with federation and international padel standards. Padel New Zealand manages the planning, registrations, player licensing, communications and promotions. The hosting club manages the draw sizes, the scheduling of matches and on-the-ground delivery on the tournament weekend.

Padel New Zealand, like many national governing bodies, is run entirely by volunteers, who dedicate hundreds of unpaid hours to planning, communication, sponsorship, scheduling, and delivery to run the federation and the Tournament Series.

The format for the Padel New Zealand Tour 2025 was developed by our volunteer team - many of whom bring professional experience; a former World Padel Tour manager, a Paris 2024 Olympics coordinator, a NZ rugby competitions manager, a Rugby Sevens referee, a national Black Sticks hockey coach, a former CCO of Sky Sports and a senior project manager. Together, they worked with Padel New Zealand at the start of the year to design the series, ensuring consistency and fairness across all events, even if not all remain involved day-to-day.

Why did the tournament sell out so quickly?

The main reason is simple - padel in New Zealand is growing rapidly. Together with a player base that is now much larger than the limited supply of courts at our clubs, demand for tournament spots far exceeds availability, meaning some grades can sell out within minutes. While this can feel frustrating, it’s also a strong sign of the excitement and momentum behind the sport.

The Tauranga and Wellington tournaments were also popular, but they did not sell out as quickly since those clubs were newer and did not yet have the same size of player base as Auckland.

Lastly, Pacific Padel has built a very active community where weekly Americano tournaments often sell out within minutes, so players are already used to securing their spots quickly.

Who decides the size of the draws for each grade?

Padel New Zealand sets and communicates the overall maximum number of players/teams for each tournament. The hosting club then allocates those spots across the grades, based on their player community and facilities, and may make adjustments as registrations come in. All allocations are reviewed and approved by Padel New Zealand.

Why don’t you just change the format to fit more teams?

The tournament format is decided at the start of the Tour and stays the same across all three events. We decided on pool play in 2025 to ensure every player gets a fair number of matches in the tournament.

Changing the format mid-series would compromise fairness, rankings, and the overall player experience. Consistency across the full series is essential.

Why can’t you use more courts or another venue?

Each Tour stop is tied to the hosting club, which runs the event together with the federation. With only 4 courts at most venues, there is a hard limit on how many matches can be played over 3 days. Running across multiple venues has been considered, but it makes the event disjointed, and requires more people to run it. In the future we may will be revisiting this approach if required. 

Why can’t you run the grades on different weekends?

Splitting grades across weekends would double the amount of organisation required - scheduling, staffing, logistics, and volunteer hours. Each event already takes 100+hours of unpaid planning for the Federation plus full on-site commitment all weekend. It would also break the atmosphere and unity of a national event, where different grades and players come together.

Why wasn’t I given priority after playing in previous tournaments?

Each tournament is a separate event with its own registration. There is no priority based on past participation - spots are always first come, first served. Players make their own decisions about entering and travelling to events.

Why were 4 spots moved from Women’s Grade to Men’s Grade?
This was a one-off adjustment based on large demand that the club made together with Padel New Zealand. To maximise participation of a grade with high demand of players, 4 team spots in the Women’s Grades were reallocated to Men’s A Grade, which had a long waitlist. In future, as more courts become available, this type of reshuffle will be less necessary.

What if I missed out — is there any chance to still play?

Yes. You can add yourself to our waitlist by emailing info@padelnewzealand.org.nz. Withdrawals and injuries happen - for example, six teams were affected Wellington, one in Auckland already. Players on the waitlist are contacted in order if spaces open up. In addition, the Qualifiers event Pacific Padel will be running offer extra spots in most grades.

Why run tournaments now if there aren’t enough courts?

Good question! These national tournaments were originally scheduled for a later year, but we launched them sooner to give players something to aim and train for, clubs to focus on building the infrastructure and to help kickstart new padel communities. Without that decision, there would have been very few tournaments in 2025. So we hope players have enjoyed them. 

The main reason draws have been restricted and tickets have sold out so quickly is not because of the registration process or lack of experienced tournament organisation, but because the clubs don’t yet have enough courts to meet the demand there is for these tournaments. 

What’s the purpose of the ranking points?

Ranking points are part of the international framework set by the International Padel Federation (FIP). Federations are expected to maintain a ranking system, but national federations set their own domestic policies on how those points are used - whether for entry, seeding, or other purposes - and this depends heavily on the maturity of the local padel market.

In New Zealand, ranking points from each event are maintained by Padel New Zealand to track player performance over time and, sometime in the future when the market is much more mature, they will also help provide a clearer competitive pathway.

The host club runs the draws for the tournament, and ranking points are available as a tool they can use to seed matches fairly if they choose, helping ensure stronger players don’t all end up in the same pool and that competitions remain balanced.

Ranking points are not a ticket into a tournament - they don’t guarantee entry. They are a tool to support fairness and transparency in how competitions are structured.

Currently, entry remains first come, first served, as our ranking system is still new, with only a few competitions of data so far, and will continue to build over time. Sometime in the future, when the system is more established and the market is more mature, Padel New Zealand may consider using rankings to help guide A Grade entry through eligibility as is common in other more mature countries.

Ranking points do expire 12 months after each tournament, meaning they reward consistent participation and performance rather than one-off results.

What rules apply to PNZ tournaments?

All PNZ tournaments are played under the Standard Padel Rules, as mandated by the International Padel Federation (FIP).

It’s important to note that the Standard Padel Rules are separate from our registration Terms & Conditions.

PNZ is also in the process of developing a Padel New Zealand Tournament Policy, in addition to the Tournament and Game format documents to provide further clarity and consistency for players.

If you have any questions, please reach out and we’ll be happy to provide answers.

Who receives the money from my tournament entry fee?
The majority of your entry fee goes directly to the hosting club to help cover their event costs, such as three days of court hire and related expenses. A small portion goes to Padel New Zealand to support federation-related event costs.

Both the club and PNZ also contribute additional funds and resources beyond the entry fee to make sure the tournament can run smoothly.

What’s the bigger picture?

Padel in Aotearoa is only 23 months old, and we are just three tournaments into the national series. Selling out isn’t a failure or as sign the tournament processes are not working - it’s a clear sign of growth. As the sport develops with more courts and clubs involved, this issue will naturally become less of a problem.

How can I help?

Please be respectful in communications. These events are organised by experienced volunteers giving hundreds of unpaid hours together with the club’s hardworking staff. Supporting positively or simply encouraging others goes a long way.

A space in each tournament is not a guarantee - it’s a limited opportunity currently. With padel growing so quickly, every spot becomes part of something special, and our goal is to give as many players as possible the chance to experience it. The Tour, in its early phase, is not about the same players entering each stop(but they are welcome to) - it is about reaching different regions, player bases and helping new padel communities kickstart and grow.

When a draw sells out quickly and many players contact the club and federation at once, organisers are already working on reallocating spots and managing waitlists. Too many queries at once can sidetrack us from that work, so it’s best to wait a little before reaching out - unless it’s urgent or to join the waitlist - and give us time to work through to a solution.

We found a solution within a day that reduced the waitlists in both A grade and B grade to only 4 teams each, and with the additional opportunity to play for a spot at the Pacific Padel qualifier, this will get further teams a chance to .

We will always do our best to support the padel community, and we hope that support is reciprocated.