Padel in the United Kingdom is a sport that is growing exponentially and as the months go by, more courts are being set up around the country, its evolution has made it the fastest-growing sport in the world with a shocking 181% increase in the number of clubs in the last five years. Marjon University together with the company Padel United was the last to join the Padel community by creating three doubles-court and the first 1v1 court in the entirety of the UK.
Over the last weeks, we have seen people from different parts of Devon driving to Marjon’s campus to join the sessions, some of these players have already experience with racquet sports but some others do not know the sport at all and one of the greatest things padel has to offer is that is a simple sport to play, and it takes no time to get used to it. The principles of the sport remain quite similar to tennis, however, padel is played on a much shorter but wider court than tennis and the major difference is the walls surrounding everything, this allows the player to use the wall to their advantage to keep the ball going and avoid conceding a point. There are other differences, like the serve for example, in tennis you do it above your head, however, in padel you must serve no higher than your waist otherwise it counts as an illegal serve.
Eric Alquerias, branch manager and current coach for Padel United in Plymouth, gave me an interview and explained his thoughts on the positives these new courts could bring to the local area.
- What do you think about the Marjon linkup with Padel United to create these new courts in Plymouth and the first ones in the SouthWest of the UK?
“I see this as something that can outstand from the crowd, as this will help because I’ve seen many people travelling from 1-2 hours distance just to come up to the sessions and they would love to have courts closer to them, so yeah, thinking this is a new sport that if people give it ago they’re going to get addicted very quickly and yeah this can help the UK become a big contender the bigger Padel championships.
- I have noticed that students, so far, haven’t engaged that much with the sport, however people in their 40s and 50s are really into the sport, why do you think this could be?
“People over 50s and 40s come in to give it a try and most of them have a background with racquet sports and that’s probably one of the things why they want to give it a go, regarding students, I’m not entirely sure if it’s timing, potentially would be the fact that you have to pay but the main reason for me is the fact that is something new. It takes some time to embrace it from my experience since I moved here, Plymouth embraces loads of sports they are very supportive so, I’m hoping that people give it a go because once they give it a go they will certainly become more active”
- What message would you give to those who have never tried the sport?
“Come and join us, play your first time for free, will give you the racquet, will give you the ball, experience it, if you like it let us know and we will support but yeah I would encourage people to try it because you have fun and when you are having fun on something that’s the best marketing tool you can have and people is enjoying it so far everyone is welcome to give it a go.”