A few weeks from  FIP Bronze Marnes , organized from  September 1st to 5th, 2026 at Forest Hill in Marnes-la-Coquette The organizers have a clear objective: to attract more female players and to build a women's tournament as dense and vibrant as the men's tournament, from the qualifiers to the main draw.

For this new edition,  Adrien Westermann, co-founder of the tournament The organization wants to go beyond simply calling for registrations. The idea is also to listen to the players, understand any potential obstacles to their participation, and identify the levers that the organization could pull, at its level.

 Why do you wish to speak today about the participation of female players? 

 Adrien Westermann:  Because we would like to succeed in having a women's tournament that is as full and vibrant as the men's tournament, from the qualifying rounds to the main draw.

In our first edition, we managed to achieve this density among men, slightly less so among women. This time, we would really like to improve on this point.

Rather than simply increasing calls for registrations, we would also like to understand what might still be holding some players back from participating in a tournament like ours.

 What exactly would you like to understand? 

 Adrien Westermann:  This leads a player to choose one tournament over another, or ultimately decide not to participate.

Is it a question of scheduling, travel, accommodation, cost, level, prize money, or simply availability? Or are there much simpler things that we, as organizers, don't necessarily think about?

We are organizers, not players. The most interesting thing to do is therefore to ask them the question directly and listen to them.

 Specifically, what would you like to achieve in this edition? 

 Adrien Westermann:  First, to have as many players as possible who want to try the adventure, regardless of their level or ranking on the circuit.

Ideally, we would have full qualifying rounds, with new players, different profiles and perhaps talents that we don't yet know much about, and then obviously a main draw that is as strong as possible.

On our scale, if we can create more opportunities to play, allow some players to compete at an international level and then encourage them to participate in other tournaments, that will already be a great success.

FIP Bronze Marnes: "How can we, on our scale, encourage more female players to come?"

 Can the players' experience extend beyond the strictly sporting realm? 

 Adrien Westermann:  That's precisely something we'd like to explore with them.

When a player comes to spend several days at a tournament, there are obviously the matches, but also everything else around them: transport, accommodation, food, recovery, equipment, reception, content…

We certainly have things to improve. The right approach is therefore to start by asking them:  What would truly make your life easier and make you more eager to participate? 

 Can partners also have a role to play? 

 Adrien Westermann:  Yes, but with a very concrete logic.

We are in discussions with brands and partners who can help us improve the tournament experience. If one of them can address a genuine need expressed by the players—facilitating travel, offering a recovery solution, improving the welcome, or providing a truly useful service—that seems much more appealing to us than a partnership built solely around visibility.

Padel also has the advantage of being a naturally very open and mixed-gender sport. For brands, supporting the development of women's participation can therefore be a particularly interesting topic.

 Does your ambition extend beyond the sole framework of the FIP Bronze Marnes? 

 Adrien Westermann:  We must remain very humble. We are just one step in an international circuit that is growing extremely fast.

But if we manage to identify two or three good ideas and implement them here, that will already be a success.

Developing the number of players and practitioners is obviously a much broader issue, supported in particular by the League and the Federation, who are assisting us with this project.

We can simply try to contribute at our level and, edition after edition, become a little better and a little more ambitious.

 What message would you like to send to the players? 

 Adrien Westermann:  Obviously, we hope above all that many of them will want to register and come and play with us, whether in the qualifiers or in the main draw.

But we would also like them to feel free to share their experience with us, whether they participate in the tournament or not.

 What factors might discourage registration? What, on the contrary, could make a difference? What could be improved in the experience offered to players? 

We certainly don't have all the answers, and some things will inevitably be beyond our reach. But if there are two or three good ideas that we can implement with our partners, the League, the Federation, or simply with our own resources, we will have already made progress.

And perhaps it inspired a few more players to give it a try.

An idea, a problem, a need? The organizers want to hear from you.

A few weeks from  FIP Bronze Marnes 2026 The message is therefore both an invitation to participate and a call for dialogue. The objective: to understand the players' expectations in order to gradually develop the tournament and contribute, at its level, to the development of women's padel.

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