Uriël Maarsen: from Dutch champion to the man guiding the next generation
Where Are They Now?
The first generation of Dutch padel players competed in a sport that still had barely any infrastructure. Tournaments were smaller, international ranking points were harder to come by, and those who wanted to train seriously often had to figure out for themselves where they could do so. Today, padel has become a fully developed professional sport, FIP tournaments are held in the Netherlands, and a new generation is growing up choosing padel from an early age.
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But what happened to the names who shaped the Dutch padel scene a few years ago? Where are they now? This series does not look back nostalgically only to conclude that everything used to be different. Instead, it follows the path from then to now. Some players remained active internationally. Others became national coaches, trainers or entrepreneurs. And for some, their professional careers simply continued, only in a much stronger field than the one they entered.
Eight stories about a sport that changed so quickly that being a ‘former top player’ does not necessarily mean someone has disappeared from the scene.
Then: a familiar name at the top of Dutch padel
Anyone looking back at the Dutch padel results from around 2020 will inevitably come across Uriël Maarsen. Together with Bram Meijer, he won the Dutch national championship in 2020 and 2021. The duo belonged to a generation that experienced the transition from a small national elite to an increasingly professional circuit.
Maarsen did not only compete in national tournaments. He was part of the Dutch national team and competed internationally. His FIP profile later lists a career-high ranking of around 227. That figure mainly illustrates how different the circumstances were at the time: Dutch players had to build their international schedules in a country where the number of high-level matches was still limited.
The value of players such as Maarsen therefore went beyond results alone. They gained experience that was still scarce in the Netherlands: international matches, travel, different playing styles and the difference between being strong nationally and competing at a global level.
The notable step in 2023
In March 2023, the KNLTB announced that Maarsen had become the national youth padel coach. With that appointment, he stopped playing for the Dutch national team. It was not a farewell to the sport, but a shift in responsibility.
The move made sense given his background. Maarsen studied at the ALO, the Dutch academy for physical education, and supplemented his education with qualifications as a tennis and padel instructor. He was also already working as a learning coach within the training programme for padel instructors.
That made the transition a logical one. The player who had experienced first-hand how the Netherlands was trying to catch up internationally with Spain and Argentina was now given the task of guiding a generation that starts playing padel at a much younger age.
Now: building a generation that knows padel as its first sport
The Dutch youth development programme is now a very different landscape from the one Maarsen entered when he reached the top himself. There are national youth squads, international junior championships and talented players who do not discover padel only after a career in tennis.
At the 2024 European Junior Championships, Maarsen was part of a coaching staff that included Milou Ettekoven, Ewan Watson and Ivo van Dijk. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams finished seventh. For Maarsen, it was his first European Championship as a national coach.
The ambition goes beyond a single final ranking. The Netherlands is trying to build a development pathway in which young players gain international experience at an early age and can eventually progress towards the senior national team.
And yet, he still plays himself
Maarsen has not completely stepped away from competitive padel as a national coach. His FIP profile still shows international activity in 2026; in July, for example, he played the FIP Bronze tournament in Lelystad.
That is interesting because it gives his position a dual character. He stands courtside as a coach, but still knows the feeling of competition from the inside.
For young players, that difference can matter. Explaining tactics is one thing; knowing what a deciding game at international level feels like is another.
The sport caught up with his generation – and that is exactly the point
The current Dutch elite consists of players who can compete in more international matches than was possible ten years ago. The programme is more professional, there are more foreign coaches, and the Netherlands itself now hosts a series of FIP events.
As a result, old rankings are difficult to compare directly. A Dutch champion from 2020 competed in a different ecosystem from a young talent in 2026.
For Maarsen, that is arguably the most meaningful outcome. A coach working with the next generation should hope that his players eventually go further than he did himself.
His story is therefore not a classic ‘where did he go?’ story. Maarsen has not disappeared. He has moved from the centre of the court to a position from which he is trying to help determine how high the next Dutch generation can rise.
From champion to keeper of knowledge
In young sports, knowledge can easily be lost when top players retire. They have spent years learning which training methods work, how international opponents play and where Dutch players fall short. If that experience disappears from the sport, the next generation has to rediscover much of it for itself.
Using former internationals in coaching and development programmes helps prevent that. Maarsen is a clear example of this.
The Netherlands does not yet have a decades-long padel tradition. To some extent, the first generation of top players is that tradition. Their experiences form the foundation on which development programmes are now being built.
That makes the question ‘where is Uriël Maarsen now?’ easy to answer: still right in the middle of Dutch elite padel, but with a different task. No longer primarily to win himself, but to make sure Dutch youth players are prepared earlier, better and more internationally than his own generation ever could be.
Why his new role matters right now
The timing of Maarsen’s transition is important. The Netherlands is at a stage where young players no longer have to learn only that padel is different from tennis. The best talents receive specialised padel training from an early age and get to see international players up close during tournaments in their own country. As a result, the role of a youth coach is shifting from introducing the sport to refining performance.
That also means decisions have to be made earlier. How many hours should a talent train? When does competing internationally make sense? How do you combine school and sport? And when should a player stop focusing primarily on winning national matches and deliberately seek stronger opposition abroad?
A coach who has followed the international route himself knows the temptation to remain in the comfortable national environment for too long. Dutch results provide confidence, but they do not always say enough about the level required internationally.
Maarsen can also help oversee the transition to the senior level. When men’s national coach Pablo Moreno was appointed, the KNLTB explicitly stated that Moreno and Maarsen would work closely together on youth development, selection and progression. That is exactly where a small padel country can make progress: ensuring that talents are not lost at the point when junior tournaments end and the senior world rankings begin.
His own continued participation in international matches provides an additional advantage. International padel is changing rapidly. Someone who continues to play occasionally experiences the pace, patterns and physical demands not just from the sidelines.
In that sense, Maarsen’s second career may prove more important for the Netherlands than his first. Two national titles remain on his record. But if players from his youth programme eventually establish themselves in the global elite, part of his influence will be reflected in results that do not carry his name.
More on Padelgids: Dutch players • rankings • padel news
