Cover Building Padel & Palms in Siargao: on the sport, community and founder’s vision
Building Padel & Palms in Siargao: on the sport, community and founder’s vision
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The tropical island known for world-class waves has found a new rhythm: the thump of the padel ball. Learn how this lively, unpretentious sports facility evolved into a cultural hub, rooted in the grit and heart of the local Filipino community
The pink of the courts hit you first—a bright splash of colour against the green of Siargao’s surroundings. This island, known globally for its surf breaks, has found a new kind of heartbeat. It resides at Padel & Palms, a lifestyle club that has evolved from a wild idea into a deeply rooted community hub.
Richard Garard, founder & CEO of Padel & Palms, is not your typical resort mogul. “I didn’t have the experience, but I had a vision to create a place where people could connect, play and feel at home on the island,” he says.
Garard’s prior claim to fame included absolutely no construction projects. He admitted in an Instagram video that he had never assembled so much as a piece of flat-pack furniture. That absence of a traditional building background may have been his greatest advantage. “Sometimes not knowing the ‘rules’ is actually the greatest freedom,” he muses, explaining that his own conviction carried him through moments when conventional wisdom would have urged him to withdraw.
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Above Community members playing padel on pink courts
Above Community members playing padel on pink courts
Community members playing padel on pink courts
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The ambition was clear: to introduce padel, a sport with the rapid-fire energy of a social gathering, to an island already defined by its welcoming spirit. Padel, a mix of tennis and squash, is inherently social, played by four people on a smaller court. It breaks down walls quickly, a characteristic that perfectly mirrors the local culture.
“Padel is very social by nature,” Garard explains. “It’s approachable, fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously… like the island.” He envisioned it as a new way for locals and travellers to interact, moving beyond the familiar terrains of surfing and nightlife.
Above Padel & Palms community in Siargao
Padel & Palms community in Siargao
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Above Padel & Palms kids programme
Above Padel & Palms founder and CEO Richie Garard
Padel & Palms kids programme
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The journey from concept to club was an object lesson in ingenuity and pure grit. Garard painted a picture of the challenge: the day 64 sheets of tempered glass, each weighing over 160 kilogrammes, arrived. There was no heavy machinery. The solution was quintessentially Siargao.
“We built a makeshift ramp, and with a small army of Kuyas, we worked sheet by sheet. Lifting, guiding, steadying, using whatever tools and devices we could find.” The work was slow and exhausting under the tropical sun, but the memory that lasts is the spirit: “no complaints, just focus, teamwork and even laughter along the way... That captured the DNA of this project. Nothing came easy, everything came with heart,” he says.
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Above Bamboo Padel Cade exterior
Above Inside the Bamboo Padel Cafe
Bamboo Padel Cade exterior
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Above Vendors inside the Padel & Palms compound
Above Vendors inside the Padel & Palms compound
Vendors inside the Padel & Palms compound
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The initial vision for a sports facility morphed organically. Garard pinpoints the moment of transformation when people began to linger. “They’d hang around for sunset drinks, conversations spilling over long after the final game ended, strangers became friends.” At that point, the club was about belonging, too. The addition of villas, a café and a bouldering gym were natural extensions of this newfound lifestyle.
The padel lifestyle, for Garard, is defined by balance. “Sport, social connection and island living all coming together.” The focus is purely on playfulness, wellness and community, moving away from competition or exclusivity. It has resonated deeply. He recounts the reward of people who had seen each other around the island for years, finally connected on the court, and eventually became close friends. Others, previously uninterested in gyms or surfing, are now completely committed, finding fitness and joy. “It confirmed that Padel & Palms was never about building courts, it was about building community,” he asserts.
That community is the club’s true lifeblood. “The island gave Padel & Palms its soul,” Garard states. The atmosphere, from the thriving Saturday Socials to the free kids’ programme, is fuelled by local energy. The design, with its bamboo roofs, open-air spaces and tropical feel, honours the setting.
Above Community members playing padel on the pink court
Above Community members playing padel on the pink court
Community members playing padel on the pink court
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Choosing independence over a franchise model was central to preserving this authenticity. “Independence allowed authenticity,” he states simply. The slower, step-by-step approach, investing their own funds, allowed the club to evolve naturally and inject its own personality, sidestepping a corporate playbook. Garard sees the mission as making something great, rooted in community, enjoying the process and avoiding the replication of a generic formula.
Padel is positioned not to replace Siargao’s surfing heartbeat, but to complement it, adding a valuable layer to the island’s offering. “People may come for the waves, now they stay longer because there’s more to experience,” he notes. The club ensures it grows with Siargao, respecting its culture through local staff and community-first events.
Looking ahead, Garard sees his role changing from builder to caretaker, protecting the vision of Padel & Palms. He hopes the club remains the island’s home for health, sport and connection, where travellers feel like locals and children grow into athletes.
“My responsibility will be to protect the essence of what we built, to nurture the community and to ensure that the heart of Padel & Palms, inclusivity, fun and connection, is never lost,” he concludes.
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Angela Nicole Regis Guiral is a digital editor at Tatler Philippines. She studied journalism and has since written features that look closely at how culture, lifestyle and social impact converge, while occasionally wandering into the worlds of style and travel.
