Rising star Theo Garton is ready to play a role in growing the next generation of British padel players after becoming a brand ambassador for Soul Padel.
The new partnership will see Lancashire-based padel operator Soul Padel support 20-year-old Garton’s ambitions in the game, while he will play an active role in helping them grow the game and nurturing young padel talent.
Garton, who hails from Middlesbrough, is currently ranked 8th in the LTA’s padel rankings and is the youngest British player in the men’s top 10.
“What we’re trying to do is connect with the young talent of kids coming through,” said Theo. “We want to get them into playing padel and showing them that padel is accessible for people of all ages and abilities.”
Soul Padel CEO and founder Mark Hewlett said “Theo is not only a talented young player himself, he’s well positioned to relate to kids aspiring to get into padel.
“We believe padel is a sport for everyone and it’s essential we engage kids early enough and facilitate access to courts and coaching. With Theo’s help we hope to create a future world champion by inspiring British kids to take up padel now.
“In any sport anywhere on earth, statistically it takes 20,000 active junior players to create one world class professional.
“As a new and growing sport in the UK, padel is beginning to build its junior participation numbers. Having spent eight years in Australia, heavily involved in junior sports, I believe role models matter enormously.”
Garton is a couple of months off completing a full-time apprenticeship, while training and competing around that. “The goal would be to have a crack at padel full time and to see where I can get,” he says. “If I can get to the point where I can earn a bit of money from the sport and I don’t have to work Monday to Friday that would be perfect.
“That’s the end goal but at the moment it’s probably not really financially sensible to do that. It’s going to be a lot of training but I do appreciate the help from sponsors like Soul Padel to give me these opportunities.”
Garton’s father Nigel, a successful tennis coach, worked out in Spain for a number of years. He switched to padel, competed for Great Britain at the first World Padel Championships in 1992, and is now the owner and head coach at Middlesbrough Tennis World, which was the first venue in northern England to have covered padel courts.
As well as his father’s coaching, Garton is also coached by Libby Fletcher, who is also the coach of the Women’s Seniors GB Padel team.
Garton said: “I used to get lessons with dad and also from Libby, who was my tennis coach growing up. Dad and I would travel to the tournaments together and that’s the same with padel. I have dad and Libby both helping me out whenever I can train in Middlesbrough and also going to the tournaments as sometimes one of them will come along, so it’s nice to have someone in your corner.”
