New padel courts boost sports centre bookings

Mother Andrea Crosby and son Zack have been making the most of the courts over the summer holidays

A sport that has taken the country by storm is now proving popular locally too, after courts opened at a Staffordshire fitness centre

Draycott Sports Centre in Stoke-on-Trent launched two covered padel courts with padel court operator Game 4 Padel in June, with bookings said to be at capacity about 90% of the time.

Chairman Mike Heath said evenings are booked well in advance, and membership at the centre has boomed.

He added: "We've had a lot of crossover with people who come to play padel joining the club, the take up has been phenomenal."

"Everybody is booking the courts, we've got members from kids to older, new visitors and, especially over the school holidays, we've had lots of families trying it and coming back", Mr Heath said.

He added: "We [also] get a massive crossover of people who come to play tennis now coming to try padel, and people who play padel are now gym members."

Draycott Sports Centre chairman Mike Heath said there's a huge crossover of people who play tennis trying padel

During the summer holidays, mother Andrea Crosby thought it would be a good idea to wear out her children on the new padel courts.

"We played it abroad for the first time last year and we all really enjoyed it as a family.

"We've done it in Greece [but] it was super hot so we had to do it first thing in the morning, but here you can do it any time of the year and day."

Her son Zack saw videos of padel on social media and was equally as intrigued.

He said: "It's pretty straight forward to get into - you get a second chance if you let [the ball] go past you as you can bounce it off the walls and return it".

The teenager is also a regular at the courts, either playing with his family or friends.

James Rank enjoys the rally aspect of padel

Customer James Rank said: "I've played a bit of tennis and squash in the past, but because you play off the back of the glass [in padel], it keeps the rally's going for a bit longer, so it's fantastic and i've joined up to be a member."

Mr Heath added: "[Padel is] a fantastic sociable game and for one hour you get a really good work out."