UK-based Soul Padel has announced a new partnership with global sports brand Decathlon, kickstarting an ambitious joint programme with a summer padel festival.
The collaboration will see two pop-up padel courts, installed and supplied by PADEL1969, at Decathlon’s Stockport store and an additional two courts at Glasgow’s Braehead store.
The festival will go ‘live’ from Monday 3 June and run until Wednesday 31 August and aims to introduce the sport to local communities and fitness enthusiasts.
Official opening events at both locations will offer visitors the opportunity to discover and learn more about padel as the sport continues its rise in popularity across Europe.
Each site will be supported by Decathlon’s in-house padel brand, Kuikma, offering products catering to beginners through to professional athletes, with equipment available for purchase or rent for those who want to ‘try before they buy’.
Special events, including introductory padel clinics led by professional coaches, will be unveiled in due course. These events aim to showcase the sport and promote Soul Padel’s community values of ‘meet, play, and connect’. Additionally, Soul Padel will promote inclusivity through children’s sessions during the school holidays and “women-only” sessions.
Soul Padel founder and CEO Mark Hewlett (pictured above) said: “This is an incredible opportunity to bring padel to these two communities. Decathlon is an internationally respected sports brand, and we are immensely proud to be partnering with them in the months ahead.
“Our aim across these three months is to create a summer festival of padel that will introduce more people to this incredibly fun sport and encourage them to become fellow padel fanatics. We also have a lot of activities in the pipeline, which we will share once they are finalised.
“In terms of the locations, in Stockport we will look to build on the popularity of padel being seen in nearby Manchester, while we are really pleased to be taking padel into the heart of Glasgow for the first time.”
As 2024 marks Decathlon’s 25th anniversary in the UK, this new partnership with Soul Padel will see Decathlon continue to create a legacy by inspiring people through the wonders of sport.
Federico Fraguela, UK commercial leader – Running & Rackets Sports, said: “At Decathlon, we’re passionate about making sports accessible to all. Partnering with Soul Padel allows us to extend our reach and introduce padel to new audiences. With our shared values of community and inclusivity, we’re excited to support these events and help more people feel ready to play this summer.”
Installation of the courts will start imminently. PADEL1969 founder and CEO Atte Suominen added: “We are looking forward to this exciting new chapter for padel. We are proud to be providing our ONE COURT FOR LIFE® by PADEL1969 – a combination of quality and high performance premium padel courts. The summer padel pop-ups with Soul Padel and Decathlon align with our commitment of spreading the ‘Joy of Padel’.”
