A new and impressive padel club has recently arrived in Southend-on-Sea courtesy of a relatively new padel company, Padel4All. This is their second facility with 3 covered courts and an outdoor panoramic court.
The Open Day consisted of a series of The Padel School clinics, an exhibition between the 4 top players in the country and a Pro-am with the local players. Sandy Farquharson had a great team with him on the day, including Toby Bawden and 6 other top British players and coaches.
“It is fantastic to see clubs like this popping up, particularly covered allowing players to play year round, I have no doubt padel numbers will be picking up quickly this next year or 2.” said Sandy Farquharson of The Padel School.
Chris Wilkinson, founder of Padel4All, helped organise the open day along with his team of coaches. Great service of food and drink was provided to all players and spectators making for a very enjoyable day.
“We believe sport and padel in particular can really help improve physical and mental well-being to everybody; our centres will promote healthier lifestyles and help create more social communities.,” Wilkinson said.
These Open Days, which The Padel School provides to clubs throughout the country, are a great way for coaches and players to receive expert tuition, for club players to see the very best level of padel in the country and an opportunity for them to be on court with our British national team players.
One of the players on the day had never played padel before, but had been a squash enthusiast for many years.
“I instantly loved the game and it didn’t take the same toll on my body as squash does. I’ve been looking for a fun, sociable sport to play with my wife and padel will be perfect,” he said.
The social aspect of padel is a big draw for events like this open day with the opportunity to enjoy refreshments, some pizza and to enjoy a social day out.
Padel enthusiasts around the country are rarely able to see padel at this level and Sandy really believes this will be a huge help to develop the game in the UK “Players need to understand how the game is played at a high level to see how different the sport is to tennis and squash – otherwise we will have only have people playing tennis on a padel court!”
Padel4All have found these Open Days instrumental in building momentum for the club “We have a close link with Sandy Farquharson and The Padel School; once again on our big launch day they helped us out coaching our staff, teaching some local school children before giving us a masterclass exhibition match; the pro-am afterwards was enjoyed by all and won by Logan Macey, 14, a rising star of the future.”
Coaches like Sandy Farquharson and Toby Bawden have also been integral to the growth of the game across communities through these open days because of their long time experience playing and coaching.
Players from all levels can take online lessons from Sandy at The Padel School to improve their game and follow The Padel School on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to gain tips and follow upcoming padel events.