The Bandeja summer 2024 issue

Smash & Grab
Grade 5
with Padel Pussy...
an anonymous viewpoint
Enter they said. It’ll be fun they said.
So we did...
My playing partner and I signed up for our
first proper padel competition, an LTA Grade
5 tournament. We were both quite excited,
a chance to let rip with our best shots
(mediocre at best, to be fair). We’d even
discussed how we would celebrate a win so
that we didn’t look too excitable or totally
surprised at coming first.
According to the LTA, Grade 5s are ‘more local
based competitions providing players with
their first experience of the LTA Padel Tour
and an opportunity to build up ranking points
in order to gain acceptance into Grade 3
competitions if they so wish’.
We had a good breakfast because we knew
there could well be more skilled opponents
across the net playing for points to gain them
access to (for us elusive) Grade 3 events.
We even warmed up before going on court
and had our energy drinks very close by. We
were ready for those Grade 3 interlopers with
our one metre kick smashes and enthusiastic
but often uneventful boasts. And then we had
to sit and wait for our first match. Two minutes
in and we were ready to go home. The padel
was, for us, just short of slightly insane. There
were a couple of teams at our level and those
matches were great. Fun even. But the rest
was Masters of the Universe V Noddy and
Big Ears.
Admittedly The Masters weren’t really Masters
standard as in playing for their country or
even on course for a Grade 1 tournament but
they were head and shoulders above us and
must, we thought, have been truly bored and
wondering what they’d turned up to.
Over a beer we discovered our slayers,
neither local nor eyeing up Grade 3
tournaments, knew what they’d let themselves
in for - LTA ranking points. By ‘playing down’
they were assured of going home with a
pocketful of points. No rules were broken, no
animals harmed but we left feeling it wasn’t
really in the spirit of the game, and we won’t
be saying yes again for a while.
Bull(padel)
in a china shop
Is this a sure sign that padel has
properly hit the spot for Brits?
John Lewis has agreed a deal
to sell Bullpadel rackets, the first
major UK retailer outside the sports
sector to bring a mainstream
padel brand on board.
Eighteen models of Bullpadel
rackets, ranging in price from
£79.99 to £264.99, are available
via the retailer’s online store, with
a number already sold out.
Theo & Victoria’s
Soul mate
Ambitious padel operator Soul Padel
has signed up two of Great Britain’s
top players - Theo Garton and Victoria
Nicholas, as brand ambassadors.
Bullpadel UK and Ireland
distributor MRH Sport brokered
the deal. MRH founder Maximillian
Holloway said: “This agreement is
a huge endorsement for padel
as it continues to take the UK by
storm. Being stocked at a highly
credible and established retailer
such as John Lewis just shows
where padel is right now and will
only help to elevate the sport.”
Theo, aged 20 and ranked eighth in the LTA Men’s rankings, and
30-year-old Victoria, currently fourth in the LTA’s Women’s rankings, will
support Soul Padel’s drive to inspire the next generation of players and
perhaps find a future GB world champion.
Mark Hewlett, co-founder and CEO of Soul Padel, said: “We’re excited to
be partnering with Theo and Victoria. Theo is not only a talented young
player, he’s well positioned to relate to kids aspiring to get into padel.
“Victoria also has a huge role to play in encouraging the next
generation of young girls to take up this amazing sport and become the
padel stars of the future. With their help we hope to create
a future world champion.”
Jersey boys
back in business
Just 10 weeks after Storm Ciaran devastated Island Padel, Jersey, the club was back
up and running with three outdoor courts open to players - and by the end of April it
had reinstated all five courts with just covers to follow.
The club - three covered and two
outdoor courts - was all but blown
apart by the November storm which
battered many parts of the UK
but was especially strong across
the Channel Islands, with Jersey
experiencing storm force 10 winds.
the devastation
caused by Storm Ciaran.
Padel Island founders Scott Clayton
and Morgan Jubb saw years of hard
work wiped out in hours, with daylight
revealing broken glass, twisted metal
and shredded covers across the
£1.2m facility, which had only opened
eight months earlier.
However, despite the utter
devastation, within days Scott
vowed that the club would come
back ‘bigger and better’ and, true
to his word, that’s just what’s
happened at the St Clement site.
With a huge effort from insurers,
court suppliers/installers Padel Tech
and a passionate padel community,
action was swift and the club was
able to open three outdoor courts
by mid January.
Scott told The Bandeja: “It’s definitely
been a test of character and will.
There was a massive deconstruction
project that had to take place to get
it down to ground level. The weather
was still quite bad during that
period and it took maybe a little bit
longer than we’d liked but the team
(PadelTech) here in Jersey that dealt
with it were absolutely fantastic. They
Hitting the spot
really prioritised our job and worked
really hard through all hours and all
conditions. We owe a lot to them for
the speed that they worked at given
the conditions.”
Within a month of re-opening Island
Padel hosted a busy half-term kids
camp and started a new league.
The second stage of rebuilding the
club, which hosted almost 100 players
from across Europe for a prestigious
Grade 1 LTA Padel National Tour event
last year, added two more courts to
take it back up to five. The final stage
see’s covers installed over three
of the courts. “I think considering the
damage and looking at other areas of
the island we’ve been very fortunate
as to how quickly we’ve managed to
turn it around,” added Scott.
Island Padel is hosting its second
LTA Grade 1 tournament in
September. Details on its website
www.islandpadel.com
Meet The Hook Club, the newest venue to grace the padel scene
in the North West of England. Inspired by the ‘El Gancho’ padel shot
(‘the hook’ in English), the four court venue opens this summer
within the grounds of Champneys Mottram Hall Hotel and Spa in
Macclesfield.With expansion plans for courts and canopies already
in the works, The Hook aims to provide an unmatched atmosphere
for players.“Inspired by luxury design, we’re creating an environment
where people will not only play padel but enjoy the entire
experience,” said CEO Jordan Ingoe.
www.thehookclub.co.uk
12 SUMMER 2024 | thebandeja.com
thebandeja.com | SUMMER 2024
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