Bears Battle to Semi-Final Thriller at UK Padel County Championships

Written by Maniel Bains

Warwickshire Mens Padel Team

UK Padel County Championships

15th and 16th November 2025

Team

Maniel Bains - Captain

Enrique Beneytez

James Southwood

Andrew Brigham

Guy Pearson

Results

Group Stage Winners:

2-0 win vs Northumberland

2-0 win vs Yorkshire

2-0 win vs Hertfordshire

2-0 win vs Wiltshire

Quarter Final:

2-1 win vs Sussex

Semi Final:

2-1 loss vs South Wales

Finishing Position:

3rd-4th

Report

After being handed a tough group of 5 teams which included Yorks & Herts, we knew it would be a challenge both physically and mentally to finish top and progress through to the knockout stages. Thankfully, we managed to win all group stage matches without dropping a set, with a particular highlight being Andrew & Enrique's 7-5, 6-4 win over Yorkshire's number 1 pair of Mike Tolman & Ben Gudzelak - live on YouTube.

In the knockout stages, we drew Sussex in the quarter finals and I went with Enrique/James as our no.1 pair and Andrew/Guy as our no.2 pair. Andy/Guy came through in two really close sets 6-4, 6-4, and the team then stood by to watch an epic unfold in the no.1 match. Enrique/James were taking on Tommy Cartledge & Dan West and lost the first set 6-0 then went a break down in the 2nd set. However, they dug deep and with Sussex serving for the match they broke back to level the 2nd set at 5-5, which they then won 7-5. The level of padel was very high and the rubber would now come down to a championship tie break. We went 9-6 up with three match points, but Sussex rallied superbly, reeling off some quick-fire net play to come back and win it 13-11!

This meant the tie now came down to a shootout with one player from each pair coming together to play a 10-point tie break, and we had to stay mentally tough to avoid the demons from last year where we were knocked out at the same stage in a shootout. I decided to go with the experienced partnership of James/Guy even though James was dealing with cramp. The decision paid off and the clutch gene was on full display as the Head Coaches of Priory & Kenilworth joined forces to power their County home to a 10-3 victory in the biggest moment of the weekend so far!

In the semi finals, we now faced South Wales who had just upset pre-tournament favourites and defending champions Essex. Full time pro Louie Harris, the current British no. 2 and world no.300 was playing so we knew this would be a difficult ask. After a pre-match fitness test and some electrolytes, James declared himself fit so I decided to go with an unchanged line up in what turned out to be a tie for the ages. We were now deep into Sunday evening around 7pm, the Bears' 6th match of the weekend, and we quickly went a set down in both matches and were fearing a quick loss. However, the boys rallied round, feeding off each other's energy, and the tie suddenly started to turn. On one court we had Andy cutting inside in volleys like a knife through butter and Guy at one with the side glass. And on the other you'd think we had Galán & Chingotto playing for the Bears. Like clockwork, we levelled both matches at the same time: 1 set all - meaning two simultaneous championship tie breaks to be played.

Andy & Guy were too strong, clutch again in the big moment, and powered home to a 10-4 win. In the other tie, Louie Harris & partner produced some amazing power padel and South Wales clinched that rubber. We were now locked at 1-1 and again headed into a shootout to decide the tie. For this one, I decided to go with the trusted partnership of Andrew/Enrique to try and cause the upset against Louie & Craig Evans. After some clutch overheads from Andy and bajadas from Enrique we found ourselves 8-6 up. Unfortunately, and credit to South Wales, they reeled off 4 high-level points in a row with some awkward spin volleys from Craig to set up the power play from Louie Harris. Perhaps fittingly, the match ended with Louie Harris, who has one of the best smashes in the world, hitting a booming por tres.

Overall, we can be really proud of our achievement being 2 points away from reaching the final and finishing in 3rd-4th position out of 34 counties competing. I would personally like to say thank you to Alison, Ryan, and the County for supporting us and making this achievement possible. We hope we made Warwickshire proud and are already looking forward to improving next year!