Most mums were probably treated to a Sunday dinner, some flowers or maybe a trip to the spa on Mother’s Day. But 12 mums in West Yorkshire did away with Sunday’s conventional celebrations by heading to Wetherby Padel Club for a ‘Mum and Me’ tournament, paired with their sons or daughters.
The event was organised by coach Frankie Bounds, who plays padel with his own mother and admits to The Padel Paper it can “make or break the dynamic at home!”
In any case, the Wetherby club are proud of their community feel and want to create an atmosphere different to the “one in, one out” effect at other clubs, through events like this one.
Some of the mums were regular players, while some had never stepped on court before. The event was very well received by those who took part.
“There was a lot of laughing as you saw sons and daughter sprinting round the court trying to pick up these balls, and through gritted teeth trying to show their mum how to play the shot,” Frankie explains.
Charlie Littlewood, who had the highest Playtomic rating of all participants (4.2), played with his mum, Tracy (0.5). For Charlie, the change of pace and experience of playing in a tournament alongside his mum was a lot of fun.
“I felt a lot less pressure. I knew going into the competition, with it being Mother’s Day, there was a bit more of a fun element to it,” he explains.
“In terms of performance we didn’t do overly well. I wasn’t really taking it overly seriously. It was so enjoyable playing padel with my mum, because I don’t get to do that loads. It was a lot of fun and a nice way to spend Mother’s Day morning.
“It’s nice to spend time with different mother and daughter, mother and son partnerships.”
Aware that Charlie is “a much better standard than me,” Tracy described getting to play alongside her son as “a real Mother’s Day treat.” She would be interested in taking part in another similar event in future.
With the day all about the mums, another of the participants, experienced padel player Sarah Rawson, brought her son Tom up from London for the event.
“I made him come up to play in it!” she says. “I play a lot of padel with my friends but I really enjoy playing with my sons. I’ve got three sons and I play padel with them whenever they come up from London.
“He’s probably better than me — he’d say he’s a lot better than me, but it’s something that we can play on a fairly even level. Even if they’re smashing it, you’ve got a chance to get it off the glass, so somehow, the game works well, with mums as well. I think it’s a really good game to mix the generations.”
It’s clear all of the mums were feeling the love from their children, with only a few squabbles about who should be playing which shot. Sarah admits she was definitely there “for the competitive element!”
She explains: “There were some mums who’d obviously not played that much and they just entered into the spirit of it. It was mainly sons and they were really sweet and forgiving and it was just a really nice, feel-good day.
“It was much better than going for afternoon tea!”
