The Bandeja summer 2024 issue

feature
Photo credit: Femme Open UK.
The UK’s
padel
obsession
laid bare
A country
obsessed!
Each pin drop represents
where players were when they
booked courts via Playtomic
in 2023. The darker the red, the
more the bookings, with some
London pins representing
45,000 bookings each.
If you needed any convincing that padel is becoming a national
obsession then check out this map from court booking app Playtomic.
Each red pin represents where
players were when they made
court bookings in 2023 - the
darker the pin the higher the
number of bookings, with some of
the London pins representing 45,000
court reservations.
It’s clear that people nationwide have
taken padel to their hearts and are
often willing to travel long distances
to play. It’s also reasonably easy to
pick out the National Parks (we had
wanted to superimpose sheep on
these areas but the nice man from
Playtomic pulled a face). That said,
there are definitely padel players
enjoying a day out on the moors, in
the mountains and on the lakes while
booking their court time. Respect!
The stats are a fascinating insight
into just how popular padel has
become – and we are constantly
being told this is just the start of its
journey, so with the co-operation of
the nice man from Playtomic we’ll
hope to revisit this map at the end
of the year, when we expect it to
look less Sweet Embrace (Dulux
Colour of the Year) and more Deep
Purple as padel rocks its way to
sporting domination.
There is every chance our green and
pleasant land will turn the colour
purple; Playtomic stats also revealed
that year-on-year growth from
January 2023 saw participation all but
triple from almost 12,700 hours of play
in January 2023 to just over 37,000
hours in January 2024. Playtomic’s
average marketshare for these
months was 85%. The total UK market
value for court bookings quadrupled
in the same period.
Interestingly the UK is leading
the way in female participation -
the Playtomic data shows 23% of
players are female compared to
a worldwide figure of 19%.
The nice man from Playtomic
(aka UK & Ireland regional manager
Alan Douglas) said the data
confirmed the ‘amazing growth’ of
padel, with new clubs, bigger clubs
and expanding chains delivering
much needed court availability:
“The UK is still an emerging
market for padel but all the signs
are that the sport will continue to
grow for perhaps another five years,
as it did in more mature markets
such as Spain. There is no doubt
that there is player demand as
every club opening results in a swift
increase in matches being booked
around it,” he said. •
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