In a guest blog for The Padel Paper, UK PADEL CEO and co-founder Nick Baker hopes the new Schools and School Alumni Championships can help remove some of the barriers currently preventing children taking up the sport.
Padel continues to grow in the UK almost week by week – which is thrilling to be a part of. But there still seems to be a relative lack of kids getting into the sport. Why is this?
Firstly, padel is not played in schools (with the exception of the forward-thinking Streetly Academy in Birmingham, which became the first UK school to build its own courts way back in 2016. Eight years later, it remains the only one.
Secondly there’s the cost. The indoor centres in particular are often prohibitively expensive, presumably driven by their high rental cost.
Lastly, whilst the LTA has made some steps forward in the last year or so, there is not really the level of support from the governing body that the sport needs in order to take a leap forward in getting kids into the game and supporting their development. Many padel clubs do not formalise sessions for juniors on a regular basis.
We at UK PADEL are passionate about getting more people into the game – and kids in particular. So what are we doing?
Schools are going to play a key part in bringing padel to a wider audience. We are really proud to have launched the inaugural UK PADEL Schools Championships which will be held on Sunday 29 September at Rocket Padel Bristol.
We are encouraging schools to bring along their talented racket-sport players and are laying on coaching on the day in order to allow as wide a group of schools as possible to take part, even if they don’t currently have padel as part of their sporting curriculum. We are delighted that Evelyn Partners has stepped in as the main sponsor, making entry completely free. Further sponsorship is also provided by Portico Sports.
We have learned during outreach work that plenty of schools are looking at installing padel courts on-site. UK PADEL is in conversation with a number of schools about running their facilities. These are promising early signs.
From day one, UK PADEL has subsidised children’s participation in our clubs. Kids pay half-price membership and half-price court fees – and we also lay on very affordable coaching programmes.
But it’s not just us. Where clubs get this right, the effects can be profound: Smash Padel Bicester has built a kids’ programme that is taking juniors into four different groups from the ages of four to 16. This then helps to highlight committed players who are progressed to national camps and could form part of the ‘first gen’ of young padel players.
Padel is the perfect sport for kids – let’s all work together to accelerate the opportunities and uptake.
Nick Baker | CEO and co-founder, UK PADEL
