Padel has arrived at London’s Olympic Park this summer as part of Playtime Padel’s expanding empire of pop-up and semi-permanent courts across the capital city.
The court in Stratford is in the shadow of the stadium which hosted London 2012 and is now home to West Ham United, and just a couple of hundred yards from the Copper Box Arena.
It will be open all summer for anyone to come and try padel, with rackets and ball available free of charge and discounts for local residents. The Olympic Park has connected Playtime Padel with a local youth club who are using it three times a week for free.
Playtime Padel co-founders Josh Whiteman, Liam Kelleher and Josh Dawson buy second-hand courts from Instantpadel by Instantcourts and erect them at strategic locations across London to introduce the sport to new communities.
They currently own and operate four sites in south-west London — Tolworth, Tooting, Kingston and Barnes — run coaching programmes at five courts in Battersea, have another site in Vauxhall going through planning, and have two more courts in storage they’re looking to place in the next month.
Courts are bookable on the Padel Mates app and at each site, Playtime Padel has an agreement that staff of an existing on-site facility, such as a sports club or leisure centre, will manage the court and give out the free rackets and balls.
Their sites offer subsidised court access for local groups, including children’s and SEN sports coaching, complimentary ‘Intro to Padel’ sessions to help locals learn the game and meet fellow players, and free court usage for schools in the local area.
“We think hiring equipment shouldn’t be what stops people playing,” co-founder Whiteman tells The Padel Paper. “We want to open up the game to absolutely everyone. Alongside our courts, we provide free public access table tennis tables and things like chess sets that adults and kids can play with.”
Whiteman and his co-founders are old school friends from Wimbledon in south-west London and have run a children’s sports coaching business together for 15 years, delivering in nurseries, schools, parks and leisure centres in term time and holiday camps.
The idea for their padel sideline started three years ago when they came across an Instantpadel court in London at a leisure centre. “It looked amazing, we gave it a try and really enjoyed it,” said Whiteman. “It really reignited our passion for racket sports. From there, We started acquiring more courts and putting them down in more places.”
He added: “We’re more of a ‘park court’ version of padel. We’re very different from your fancy Rocket Padel kind of club.
“Quite often, we’re using our courts as an introduction to padel at venues who might be ‘on the fence’ about introducing the sport or might want to test the community demand.
“All our courts are affordable, pay and play, all equipment is free to use and we’re for anyone who just wants to have a good game with their friends, rather than go to the sauna and have a cocktail afterwards. We’re more bare bones and affordable — we’re your everyman’s court!”
All our courts are affordable, pay and play …..
How much are the courts per hour please? Where do i book?
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