A Year Later, I Looked Around the Court
Almost one year ago, FLO Padel was launched.
There was no enormous launch campaign.
No professional players standing beneath studio lights holding our rackets.
No huge marketing budget telling people what to think.
There was simply a new padel brand—and a group of people at The Barns at Wellington willing to give it a chance.
Where FLO Started
Our first customers were my fellow club players.
They were people I played with every week. People who understood the game, knew what they liked and were willing to give me honest answers.
They tried the rackets.
They told me what felt good.
They told me what did not.
They questioned certain choices, offered different perspectives and helped us understand what ordinary players actually wanted from their equipment.
In many ways, those early club players helped shape FLO.
The Barns at Wellington did not simply become somewhere we sold our first rackets.
It became the place where we began learning.
Almost One Year Later
Today, almost one year after FLO launched, I played in the men’s final at the same club.
And at some point during the event, I looked around the court.
Of the eight players in that final, six were playing with FLO rackets.
Around the venue were FLO bags.
Different FLO models.
Different players who had each chosen the racket that suited their own game.
For a moment, I simply took it all in.
More Than Seeing the Logo
Seeing six FLO rackets in the final meant far more to me than simply seeing our logo on court.
Nobody had been paid to use one.
These were not professional endorsements arranged for a campaign.
They were club players who had tried the rackets, formed their own opinions and decided they wanted to continue playing with them.
That distinction matters.
They did not choose FLO because they were contractually required to.
They chose FLO because they wanted to.
For a small brand trying to earn trust, there are few endorsements more meaningful than that.
Different Players, Different Choices
What also made the moment special was that the players were not all using one model.
There were different FLO rackets around the court because the players themselves were different.
Different techniques.
Different strengths.
Different preferences.
Different ideas about what feels comfortable, controllable or powerful.
FLO was never built around the belief that one racket should work for everyone.
It was built around listening to the player and helping them find equipment that works for the way they actually play.
Looking around that court, I could see that idea taking shape in front of me.
The Days That Keep You Going
When you are building a small brand, there are days when you wonder whether all the work is getting you anywhere.
The prototypes.
The testing.
The mistakes.
The changes.
The late conversations about details most people will never notice.
The constant effort to improve something before anyone has asked you to.
Progress rarely arrives as one enormous breakthrough.
Most of the time, it happens quietly.
One player tries a racket.
Then another.
Someone recommends it to a friend.
A player returns because they want to try a different model.
Slowly, a brand begins becoming part of a community.
Then occasionally, you experience a day that allows you to see that progress all at once.
For me, this was one of those days.
Built Around Club Players
I started FLO because I believed there was room for a padel brand built around ordinary club players.
Not only professionals.
Not only rankings.
Not only the loudest voices in the sport.
The people who book a court after work.
The players who compete at their local club.
The people who simply love padel and want equipment that suits them.
Almost one year later, I stood on court surrounded by those same kinds of players.
Six out of eight.
At The Barns at Wellington.
A great day for FLO.
And perhaps the nicest part?
It happened at home.
