This week saw the opening of the UK’s first padel courts at a university – including what’s believed to be Britain’s first pay-and-play singles court.
Industry heavyweights Padel United have built four outdoor courts at Marjon University in Plymouth which will all be open to the public with no membership fee.
It is the first padel facility in the county of Devon and has already attracted 140 players since opening on Monday (October 3).
Richard Hall-Smith, Padel United’s UK Area Manager, explained to the Padel Paper why they chose a university for their latest court build project.
“I opened my first club five years ago so I have more experience than most about what seems to work at the venues,” he said.
“One thing that most sports facilities lack is off-peak utilisation. We can all get busy in the weekends and evenings, but other than coaching, most clubs have dead times in the mornings and afternoons.
“We thought about what sort of venues have people living on-site or nearby with spare time and an interest in sport. A university was the perfect answer.
“If you factor that in with being in a city with a population of 250,000 people like Plymouth, the project certainly looked like a great prospect.”
Padel United won’t necessarily be pursuing a model of building facilities at universities as they are focusing on bigger projects – with two in the south east and one in the north west in the pipeline. But the high footfall and off-peak potential of the Plymouth project made sound business sense.
“We certainly didn’t set out to target universities, but I just happened to get in touch with Plymouth Marjon’s director of sport,” said Hall-Smith. “We looked at various locations on the campus and they were very open to the idea.”
Padel United funded the whole project which will operate on a profit-share arrangement with the university. It will target mass utilisation and accessibility with local residents and the student population.
The singles court (which is 20m x 6m, compared to a standard 20m x 10m doubles court) was included in the Plymouth project partly because of the dimensions of the site, but also for strategic reasons.
Hall-Smith explained: “It’s something I’ve been looking to bring into more venues as an option and it has already proved quite popular in the first few days.
“There are lot of positives about padel being a doubles game, but one of its drawbacks is being able to find four of you who play to the same level.
“In Scandinavia, people quite often play padel for an hour at lunchtime but finding three others in your office who can nip out for a game can be tricky. Singles gives you that easier option.
“In my experience, it’s nowhere near as fun as doubles, but if you’re new to it it’s a good way to learn.”
Read more about Padel United projects here.
