Smash Padel has adapted the NHS’s popular ‘Couch to 5k’ fitness programme for the padel court by launching ‘Sofa 2 Smash’ at its club in Bicester.
The idea behind Sofa 2 Smash is to use padel as a vehicle to combat so-called ‘non-communicable diseases’ such as heart attacks, strokes, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.
Risk factors for these conditions include tobacco use, unhealthy diets, alcohol and inactivity.
Annabelle Denly, a Level 2-qualified LTA coach with experience working in the NHS mental health service, led an eight-week Sofa 2 Smash pilot programme with six participants before Christmas.
To recruit players, Smash Padel worked with Cherwell District Council and local physical activity charities such as Active Oxfordshire to promote the Sofa2Smash programme on their databases.
Results showed improvements in participants’ mental wellbeing, self-reported health, physical activity and exercise levels, in turn reducing sedentary behaviour.
One of the strongest outcomes was how the players enjoyed learning padel through structured, fun sessions that were accessible. A strong theme in responses was the social aspect, where connections were formed and participants even arranged between themselves to meet up outside of sessions.
One participant, Gemma Bridges told The Padel Paper: “I suffer with mental health issues and find it very difficult meeting new people. But from the very beginning, we were all at the same sort of level. It was a very fun, structured way of learning the game of padel, getting fitter and finding a new hobby. A few of us have now signed up to do the beginner/improver social sessions, and we get a discount on court bookings.
“It’s had a massive impact on my mental and physical health and socially too. I’ve now got back into fitness. It’s just built up a bit more confidence to do more regular exercise.”
Another participant said: “I loved the whole idea of the programme; bringing a group of ladies together to learn padel with a coach. Having just moved to Bicester and often working from home, this programme got me out the house to meet people from the area.
“I loved the sociable aspect of it, and since the programme us ladies have been meeting to play padel, meaning we’ve found a group of like-minded women who want to continue playing together.”
“Stress-free and non-judgemental”
Sofa 2 Smash created an environment that was described as “stress-free”, “non-judgemental” and “rewarding”. The players said they would now be confident at playing padel outside the group and that the programme encouraged them to get into exercising again.
The programme was offered free and provided “community, connection and improved both mental and physical wellbeing.”
Participants’ feedback after the eight-week programme ensured that the next steps were evidence-based.
Guided by participant surveys, SmashPadel offered the six players discounts on group coaching and socials, as well as free racket rental.
Additionally, all six participants were interested in helping future Sofa 2 Smash cohorts as ‘S2S Alumni’. In future, it’s hoped this will create a large community of S2S players who have all been on a shared journey and want to make new connections through playing padel.
Smash Padel plans to deliver the programme across its other sites UK-wide, including training for guide coaches, programme delivery, review and follow-up activities and offers.
Sofa 2 Smash guide Annabelle said: “We plan to collect longitudinal data on the original S2S pilot programme participants to see whether S2S will have any long-term impacts.
“We hope this exciting, new initiative will inspire other padel operators to invest in providing accessible padel to a harder-to-reach target group, as this is the group who will benefit the most.”
This is such a great article – it’s so good to hear the positive effects of padel and new players finding such positivity from this