UK PADEL are hosting the first ever national schools padel competition for under-15s at Rocket Padel Ilford on 2 March — and it’s set to be the biggest junior tournament in Britain so far.
UK PADEL organised the UK’s first ever Schools Championship for under 18s last September in Bristol, which saw 85 pupils compete across boys’, girls’ and mixed competitions.
This year, entries for the U15 event have risen to 104 (including 35 girls) with more schools taking part, including two state schools. Both the U18 and U15 schools competitions will become annual events.
Additionally, UK PADEL CEO and co-founder, Nick Baker, has told The Padel Paper they are planning to add an U13 event as well as starting Junior County Championships in November, which will run alongside their popular Open, O40, O50 and O60 County Championships.
Nick said: “At our Under 18 event last September, the vibe was so great with so many kids having the best time. Heads of Sport from the schools told us it’s one of the best sporting days out they’d been to. There was no standing around getting bored, we got people on court as much as we could and it got all these schools thinking about padel.
“After that, we wanted to do it again with a different age group so we launched the U15s. The uptake has been fabulous. We’re setting another new high water mark in terms of being the biggest junior padel tournament in the UK.”
At Rocket Padel Ilford there will again be boys’, girls’ and mixed draws, with each school’s team made up of a minimum of four and maximum of six players. There are no age divisions — the only stipulation is that all players were 14 or under on 31 August 2024 (i.e. mostly pupils in Year 10 or below).
The competition will begin with a group stage format leading on to knockouts. All fixtures will be timed 20-minute matches with the score recorded at the point the hooter goes off.
Nick added: “The focus of the day will be a celebration of all things that are UK PADEL: bringing together players from all parts of the UK for a team event that is competitive yet exemplifies the camaraderie and fun that the sport promotes.
“Padel is a relatively new sport in the UK, particularly for school-aged children. Some of the competitors will have no or very little experience on a padel court. At our U18 event, some had never been on a padel court before, but by the end of the day you wouldn’t have known.”
Matches played on Court 1 in Ilford will be live streamed to UK PADEL’s YouTube channel.
