BY ALAN THATCHER
A new padel club in Derby will be one of the biggest centres in Europe with ELEVEN courts!
The new club, which will operate under the name of We Are Padel, is based at the former Powerleague five-a-side football centre in Derwent Parade opposite Derby County’s Pride Park stadium.
The club is now owned by ambitious Swedish company LeDap, which operates 100 clubs worldwide and has a significant investment fund to acquire new sites across the globe.
Three outdoor floodlit football pitches have been retained but a major building project is under way to make We Are Padel a thriving centre for a game that is rivalling pickleball for the title as “the world’s fastest-growing sport”.
A report in the Derby Telegraph quoted Rosco Muller, one of the management team, explaining that the club would operate a pay-to-play system, removing the traditional club membership model.
He told the Telegraph: “We are serious about padel, playful about everything else. We believe that everyone should experience the world of padel.
“Within our padel clubs, we allow people to come together, be sportive, social and inclusive. We create a pay-and-play club that asks no commitment of you, nor imposes any restrictions. We strive to be the benchmark for padel.
“Our organisation gives us a chance to present opportunities for local communities and creates an infrastructure to help others. By running as a pay-and-play club, our sessions in the evening generate the funds to run community programmes during the daytime (including projects for schools, plus community groups working in the areas of disability, obesity and helping the disadvantaged).”
The club plans to open in the coming weeks and the owners are planning a second site in Shoreditch, east London.
LeDap have been contacted for a comment.
