Rudy Paige will be among the celebrities participating in a padel tournament in 2025. Picture: rudy_paige/Instagram
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle post playing days can be difficult for former athletes. Popular sport pedal has been a saving grace for many global stars.
“I’ve struggled to find something as a hobby apart from golf to still stay active and padel has definitely got my interest,”former rugby player Rudy Paige told The Citizen.
The former Blue Bulls player is part handful South African celebrities who will participate in the Sunbet Padel Invitational, founded by media personality Kriya Gangiah in partnership with Sunbet set for February 2025.
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Due to two knee injuries Paige hasn’t been able to play the game of padel but is excited about taking part in the tournament next year.
“The tournament will be my very first time playing padel and I’m so excited to be invited to this amazing tournament,” averred Paige who said he wasn’t a celebrity.
Other celebs that have confirmed their participation include Ashwell Prince and Schalk Brits.
“[I] just want to go and meet new people and have an absolute great time at the tournament. The thing I’m looking forward to mostly is to experience what padel is all about and hopefully be able to just make contact with ball at least.”
Mexican businessman Enrique Corcuera and his wife Viviana are credited with inventing padel, also known as Paddle or Padel-Tennis, in 1969.
The sport has seen a rapid growth in the last few years among former athletes and prominent individuals. The likes of David Beckham, Serena Williams, French President Emmanuel Macron and Lionel Messi count themselves as fans of the racquet sport.
“Padel has become South Africa’s fastest-growing sport, and it’s been thrilling to see the community that has developed around it,” said Gangiah.
Together with former Springbok player Juan de Jongh, Paige has seamlessly transitioned from playing rugby to podcasting through their Behind the Ruck podcast.
The pair launched their podcast in 2023 around July and Paige said they wanted to change perceptions about rugby players. They recently celebrated a million views and reach more than 20,000 subscribers.
“We have been blown away by the response and growth of the show in the last 72 weeks since our first episode,” Paige said.
The former Clermont player said they’ve been able to retain their audience while simultaneously growing and attracting new viewers weekly.
“That’s something we extremely proud of,” shared Paige.
“Behind The Ruck has been an absolute blessing to our lives for myself and Juan, to find something post rugby that we are passionate about and that gives us that same purpose that we had while playing professional rugby,” shared Paige.
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The Springboks’ success over the past few years has permeated throughout South African rugby and with Behind The Ruck being a rugby podcast, Paige said they have also bnefitted from the back-to-back Rugby World Champions.
“We as a show fall under that rugby umbrella, it’s our mission to celebrate this team and showcase the amazing people they are and the success that deserve through their hard work and talent.”
Paige said their show is about closing the gap between players and audience but through an athlete’s point of view.
“We have always been about sharing positive and insightful storytelling that would hopefully inspire and educate our audience through watching the show.”
The show is centred around the sport of rugby where they invite former and current players of the sport. Their most recent guest was IRB Young Player of the Year nominee Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Paige said they want to diversify their guest to different sporting codes and become an all access show.
“But with rugby as the foundation of the conversation. Hopefully we can grow to get a 100 000 subscribers on YouTube and make it to main stream TV, but we know that is currently still a very long way away, but nothing stops us from dreaming and believing.”
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