Palisadians Play Padel in Palma

Palisadians Colleen Lyon and Shannon Neiman just returned from Spain, where they had a little fun in the sun while playing in the 2014 Mundial de Padel in Palma, Majorca.

That’s right, these two local moms are also Padel players and joined Brentwood resident Gina Gardner on the USA Women’s Padel team at the 2014 World Championships.

They were first introduced to the game, a racquet sport played extensively in Spain and Latin America,  in October 2013 and started playing and training seriously in February.

In May, Lyon, Neiman and Gardner all competed in a national padel tournament in Houston, Texas.   Lyon and her partner Ana Claver took first place while Neiman and Gardner placed second.

In June, U.S. national team tryouts were held in Miami and Los Angeles. The three ladies placed in the top three and were invited to compete on the team, which consisted of eight players.

Spanish national players Juan Fernandez-Lastra (a tennis and padel pro) and Claver (a representative for Padelbox, a company that builds padel courts), introduced Lyon, Neiman and Gardner to the sport and helped them train for the competition.

The USA placed 11th out of 12 teams at this year’s  Mundia de Padel, which ran from Monday through Sunday. Opening ceremonies were held at Castle Bellver in Palma. In the women’s team competition, Spain finished first, Argentina second and Portugal third.

“We lost matches to Argentina and Chile in our first round pool play, then we lost to Uruguay and beat Canada to get 11th place,” Lyon said. “Shannon and I personally won a match against Uruguay and one against Canada in the team competion. We also were runners up in the consolation bracket for the pairs tournament.”

Lyon and her husband Rick, a lifelong Palisadian, have two children, Ainsley (3) and Spencer (1).

Neiman was raised in the Palisades, where she lives with her husband Doug and their two children, Ciaran (7) and Kellan (2).