The Bandeja summer 2024 issue

The Padel Club, Wilmslow.
Aimee Fuller and Scott Thomas at The Padel Club.
An impression of how The Padel Club
at TraffordCity will look.
The team at Manchester Padel Club (from left) Director of Padel
Leo Padovani, coach Rachel Thomas and co-founder David Thomas.
Olympic snowboarder turned
media personality/HOP tournament
compere Aimee Fuller).
Football - and padel’s popularity
with its high-profile players - has no
doubt been a driver in the game’s
development, as Kris explained: “It
has been very good for the growth
of the sport in general,” he said. And
Manchester in particular? “A lot of
footballers are playing and that
brings a lot of exposure in social
media. That is a big factor, and
including cricket and rugby players,
it undoubtedly helps.”
Manchester Padel Club
David Thomas, co-founder of
Manchester Padel Club in Heald
Green, credits The Padel Club for
getting the ball rolling and he too
believes that football has been
integral to padel gaining a strong
foothold in and around the city.
“The football connection to padel
is strong, the two sports work well
together,” David told The Bandeja.
“Padel really took off in the region
with the opening of the Padel Club.
The team there did a great job of
marketing the sport. Since then Club
de Padel has opened as well as our
own club, Manchester Padel Club.”
But, as is the case for most padel
facility operators, the route to
opening new courts has not been
quick, as David explained: “While it
may seem like padel is just gaining
traction in the city, the journey to
this point spans at least 15 years.
Initially the only court in Greater
Manchester was tucked away in a
warehouse in Bury. Frustrated by the
lack of accessibility, players often
travelled to Yorkshire to play.
“From there, Manchester City
Football Club built a private court
at its training facility. Some local
players were lucky enough to be
invited to play there but there was
still unmet demand for courts,”
added David, who was keen to
develop his own padel facility.
“However at this point we were well
aware that not that many people
knew what padel was. An indoor
club in Birmingham had also gone
bust so as a business opportunity it
was seen as a risk,” he said.
Fast forward a few years and David
was given a helping hand by former
world No 1 Fernando Belasteguin’s
agent and former Deportivo de
La Coruña player Francisco (Fran)
González Pérez, leading to a
meeting with Leo Padovani, a former
international padel champion. He had
been scouting for his own location
and the pair joined forces.
The result is Manchester Padel Club,
with Leo in place as Director of Padel.
His elite standing - he’s a former
world top 10 player and coach to
many of the world’s leading players
including former No 1 Juan Martin Diaz
who recently featured in the ITVtelevised
Hexagon Cup.
Leo said: “We’re establishing a worldclass
padel academy in Greater
Manchester. Having played alongside
and coached some of the world’s
best players, I’m confident that, with
the benefits of our unique training
facilities and our team’s experience
in padel, we can introduce a
whole new level of padel sporting
excellence to the region.”
The pay-to-play club opened last
July with one court and now has
three, including a game-changer
tech-enabled covered show court
with stadium seating, making it a
perfect location for tournaments.
David described it as ‘one of
Manchester’s best kept sporting
secrets’ - but it’s now stepped into
the spotlight and is rolling out a
programme of initiatives, including
padel for schools and hopes for a
disability/adaptive padel scheme in
collaboration with specialist advisors
(including Paul Kelly from Manchester
City’s City in the Community disability
programme and the LTA’s Sue
Morrison).
“We want to establish our club -
and the region - as the place where
people from elite level all the way
through to beginners can come to
learn the game, improve their skills
and ultimately have fun,” said David.
Manchester Padel Club.
And when he talks elite he means
elite, even if the sport is not padel;
Usain Bolt has been training and
playing at the club when in town
and a number of well-known names
have also enjoyed honing their skills
in what has until now been a relatively
private setting.
Club de Padel
One of the most exciting padel
developments in Manchester is
Club de Padel in the city centre. The
brainwave of three friends with a
Olympic sprinter
Usain Bolt on court at
Manchester Padel Club.
passion for padel - David Blake,
Matt McKinlay and James
Wigglesworth - the club has proved
hugely popular, with thousands
of players streaming through its
doors since it opened just before
Christmas. The location is an
inspired choice; Club de Padel
nestles beneath the tallest towers
in Manchester in the city’s emerging
New Jackson on Deansgate area.
Exposure for the sport is guaranteed,
with thousands of people living and
working in the area.
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