Businessmen Mark Hewlett and Paul Lloyd have founded Soul Padel with a vision for a community padel facility in West Lancashire that includes a centre of excellence.
Soul Padel wants to not only fill the current gap for an indoor padel facility in the north west, but also open up access to the community, particularly children, who are being priced out of other padel venues.
Mark (pictured above right) told The Padel Paper: “We founded Soul Padel because we want to take padel back to its origins, which is a community sport that’s played sociably so people can meet up and connect with each other.
“We want to encourage people to be coached and play competitively, but most of all we want them to play in an environment that is friendly, welcoming and preferably indoors.”
Between them, co-founders Mark and Paul bring a wealth of experience in retail, healthcare, hospitality and leisure to the table. They are currently in discussions with investors and landlords and hope to have their first centre open within the next six months. They intend to make it a hub to engage local children and young people.
“There’s a fair bit of social deprivation in the north west, which stems from lack of government investment in safe places and sporting facilities,” said Mark.
“There is no go-to indoor facility here in the north west where younger people can learn the sport and be encouraged to develop. I think there’s a wonderful opportunity for padel to become that sport and that space for kids to thrive. I also think there’s a place for padel, despite the dominance of football and rugby league in this area.”
Like others, Mark first discovered padel whilst on holiday and sees great potential in how easy it is to play for beginners. “It’s a sport that fascinates me,” he said. “It’s not often in life that a new sport comes along and you can be in a position to help shape the future of it.
“What worries me is that it’s already at risk of becoming a bit elitist and over-commercialised. What I’d like to achieve in Lancashire is not only a profitable and successful business, but one that’s open, accessible and welcoming and wants to develop the game.
“Embedding within the community, integrating with educational facilities and making sure local schools have access to the centre is essential from day one. There’s no reason why padel can’t be used as an outlet for young people who don’t have back gardens and are less privileged. If you connect with the schools, you build connections with parents and suddenly you’ve got an active community engaged in a sport that isn’t hard to learn.”
