By RJ Mitchell
PADEL4ALL Basset Down centre manager Steve Yeardley believes his club’s recent CUPRA Open Day has provided yet more proof that padel is not only here to stay in the UK but already growing its own community.
The chain will next week open up a state-of-the-art facility at Bristol Lockleaze while also boasting a four-court venue at Garon Park in Southend and with five more clubs in the pipeline Padel4All is already at the forefront of the UK padel revolution.
With CUPRA already well known within padel circles through its sponsorship of the World Padel Tour and the CUPRA Tribe, which boasts eight of the top-ranked padel players in the world, including current World No. 1 Alejandro Galán, a partnership announcement with the local dealership the Fish Brothers Group was announced in March to coincide with the launch of their very first 100% electric vehicle – the CUPRA Born.
It was then that the idea of a joint event was spawned as Yeardley explained: “The event was something we had talked about for a while and we wanted to align ourselves with other up and coming brands like CUPRA especially as they sponsor the World Padel Tour and they were more than happy to jump on board.
“They sponsored the whole event and brought down some cars while putting on some fabulous prizes, sponsored the trophies, and brought loads of other goodies while we concentrated on putting on the best possible event for our members.
“So we put on an Improvers Event, an Intermediate Event and an Advanced Event, and it was fully booked. It was also a timed event with the players who won the most matches advancing through.
“We have three covered courts at Swindon and that means we always have 12 competitors on the court at the same time and those who weren’t competing went into what we called the ‘CUPRA Lounge’, which allowed them to go and look at the cars, register their interest and have a drive around the car park.
“We had 14 Competitors for our Improver Event which lasted two hours and at the end the winners made it into the Intermediate Event with 14 for that including the two moving up and then it was the same for the Advanced Event.
“So in total 38 players competed and afterwards they could very much enjoy the CUPRA experience and combine that with other padel opportunities and it is fair to say it was a huge success.”
Callum Miller, Group Marketing Manager at Fish Brothers, said: “The arrival of the all new CUPRA Born and our partnerships with like-minded businesses, such as Padel4all, is just another step in our journey to a greener future.
“We absolutely love what Padel4All are achieving with such a fantastic sport in an incredible location, and most importantly, the pathway to a healthier lifestyle it offers to so many people and it goes without saying that the event was a great success from start to finish.
“The Padel4all team were a pleasure to work with, everything that we needed was provided and they put on an extremely well organised event, and they accommodated our customers and colleagues walking them through the game of padel for the very first time, and I know they will be returning to play more frequently.
“We will without doubt be looking to further our partnership with Padel4all Basset Down moving forward, a great company, growing a brilliant sport, run by enthusiastic individuals.”
While the CUPRA Open Day Event may have been an outstanding success Yeardley’s passion for all things padel and his hopes of growing the sport and it’s own distinctive community around his Basset Down complex are palpable.
He said: “Right from the start Padel4All really sold me with their ambition to build many centres but also a good coaching team, they are very inclusive and they want everyone to play padel whether you are a child or an adult or have a disability.
“Padel4All want to build sites that are not conflicting with tennis, we approach golf clubs, leisure centres and are adding to the community and not taking away from it. We really want to build a padel community.
“At Basset Down you don’t have to be a member to play with us but we reward members. If you are not a member you pay a certain rate but if you are a member you pay a heavily subsidised price, with discount at the club shop and the bar, which is at the golf club and of course have full use of the showering and changing facilities and a further discount on coaching programmes.
“So the more you use the facility the more you are rewarded and we have a wide-ranging demographic with 50 non-member juniors in our programme.
“We also have a Downs Syndrome Disability Group on a Saturday morning and we have an extensive coaching programme covering every conceivable grouping of people who want to play padel and also tailor it for social or match play.”
Yeardley, who has watched his membership grow from zero to 185 in 10 months, added: “But the great aspect is the social value with everyone meeting new people in a friendly environment.
“What is also great is that we have footballers, gardeners, young people and septuagenarians and they all play together. That is the beauty of padel, it brings people together in a healthy environment.
“Our job is to make sure that the correct pathway is there for everyone and we have the right structure in place. So really we cater for all.
“Personally I’m really excited with where padel is now and I just can’t wait to see where it goes with rumours of Olympic inclusion and I’m excited to be on that journey with Padel4All.”
More info at padel4all and Fish Brothers.
