Padel craze in the UK: What it takes to build a Padel court
All the UK is on a Padel high. The racquet sport has seen an unimaginable rise globally, after its humble beginnings in Mexico. As reported by The Evening Standard, there are over 89,000 Padel players in the UK. With the craze not showing any signs of slowing down, what does it take to build a Padel court?
Josh Dawson, co-director of Playtime Padel Club, told Sports Gazette about their newly-renovated court in Kingston.
He said: “We’ve changed it to sort of a semi-permanent Padel court, which basically has an astro (turf) flooring, that (means) better bounce. It’s a better level core and a better sort of surround plexiglass. All around it’s better.”
Playtime Padel Club has built and operates multiple Padel venues across South West London and also provides high-end Padel coaching. The club is run by Josh Whiteman, Liam Kelleher, and Dawson, who also talked about the logistics of a Padel court.
The Kingston venue previously had what is called an instant Padel court, which has a plastic floor.
About why renovation was needed at the Kingston venue, Dawson added: “With the new court, it’s sort of semi-drilled in, so it doesn’t move. When an instant Padel court has legs on the side, it just sits on the surface, so let’s say after a lot of hitting against the back wall, it can move the court around, creating little gaps in between the glass and flooring.”
As any sport grows, naturally demand for quality in terms of facilities and experience does. Dawson and Playtime Padel identified this and considered the demand as one of the reasons why renovation was needed.
“We wanted to improve the playing for the court in that area, and we felt like the instant Padel court was a temporary court anyway for us to start getting Padel introduced to the area”, said Dawson.
“We have got to stay long there, and we wanted to give the community a better court and a better playing surface.”
With the instant Padel court removed, Playtime Padel has planned ahead on how the surface could still come in handy, playing its part in further growing Padel.
“We wanted to use that instant Padel court at another venue. These instant courts are very good for small, short-term rentals. So, we thought we would use that at another venue to get Padel started there.”
With Padel venues popping up in many locations, it’s important for these clubs to track the demand based on their areas, and price the venue accordingly.
Dawson said: “I think because we’ve got that entry-level price, that’s why a lot of people use our courts and use it as a gateway to start playing padel.”
Although the sport itself has yet to establish itself in the mainstream, it is a costly affair to both resurface the court and maintain its quality.
When asked about the price, he informed us before answering that it wasn’t his expertise but it “maybe would cost around £30,000- £40,000, it also depends on where you get the court from and if it’s second-hand or not, it’s not cheap though that’s for sure.”
Companies like Playtime Padel Club play a huge role in making this expensive sport more accessible, as the fifty-six-year-old sport is still in its infancy.
It’s safe to say that Padel’s rapid growth is almost a surety, as it will benefit from becoming a social media trend, leveraging the popularity of its celebrity content and high interest and investment in the United Kingdom.
