Pro Am Padel Tour, Jason Manford and the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) have joined forces to deepen their shared commitment to youth engagement in padel.
Pro Am Padel Tour, the UK’s leading pro-celebrity padel series, is expanding each of its events in four major UK cities in 2025 into two-day events. The LTA has joined as official strategic partner to organise and host whole-day community-led sessions aimed at increasing padel’s accessibility, visibility and diversity.
These sessions will be delivered free to children from local schools in partnership with the Jason Manford Padel Academy. Participants will be provided with coaching, equipment and, importantly, follow-up opportunities to continue their participation in padel through vouchers, court time, products and programmes.
Jason, the popular stage and screen actor and comedian, has already engaged over 500 school children at his Academy events at clubs all over the UK, supported by the LTA.
Teaming up with Pro Am Padel Tour will significantly increase the capacity of the programme and reach even more children who may not otherwise get the opportunity to discover the sport due to socio-economic barriers. The publicity generated by the high-profile celebrities in the Pro Am Padel Tour will also help to amplify the programme’s positive impact.
The partnership builds on the Pro Am Padel Tour’s commitment to drive youth participation, encourage diversity and provide equal access opportunities to the sport. Last year, the Tour worked with community organisations and schools, as well as the LTA and regional governing bodies such as Tennis Wales, to put on dedicated coaching and taster sessions for children, young people, and underserved communities.
In 2025, not only will Jason deliver introductory sessions for children at Pro Am Padel Tour events, he will also take the role of team captain alongside fellow celebrities and pro players in the competition itself.
Jason said: “It is an utter joy taking the Jason Manford Padel Academy across the country and introducing hundreds of children to the wonderful sport of padel, with the support of the LTA. Teaming up with the Pro Am Padel Tour is a natural next step, helping to give even more kids access to padel and experience its positive impact.”
Steve Yeardley, LTA Padel Manager, said: “The LTA is delighted to be partnering with the Pro Am Padel Tour to deliver community days, with the ambition of opening up padel across Britain.
Working alongside the Pro Am Padel Tour and Jason Manford, we have an ambition to make padel more accessible and engaging and to inspire the next generation. One of our key objectives for padel in Great Britain is for there to be 400,000 annual padel players by the end of 2026, and working with the Pro-Am Padel Tour, who have been growing the sport’s profile through engagement with celebrities and some of the sport’s best players, will help us raise the profile of padel, and inspire more people to pick up a padel bat.”
Oliver Morgan, founder of the Pro Am Padel Tour, said: “Our major objectives include making padel accessible and inspiring the next generation of players, and a key part of that is getting more children on court. The work that Jason is doing in this area is truly inspirational and through our strategic partnership with the LTA we’ve been able to join forces with his academy, hosting them at our four community days this year. We feel privileged to be a part of this movement.”
