The latest sports craze, Padel, could soon be coming to the Isle of Wight in a major investment for an Island tennis club.
Padel is a fast-growing sport, which started in Mexico and is played by celebrities and professional sports men and women.
A mix of tennis and squash
The racquet sport is played in doubles and scored like tennis, with two halves of a court, but boxed in like squash and balls can be hit against the glass walls.
Now Ryde Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is looking to create the Island’s first two all-weather Padel courts, with the club saying the Isle of Wight is the last county in England to get one.
In planning documents, the club says Padel courts would go hand in hand with its current offer and could appeal beyond its current members, providing a social hub and help sustaining the existing facility.
Paying for the work
It could cost around £150,000, with the cash coming from multiple sources including Sports England, the Lawn Tennis Association and club money made from fundraisers, taken from reserves and potential membership increase costs.
Importantly, the club says, by providing the facilities it could become a transition sport for some of the club’s older players who now find tennis too strenuous.
Ambitions for indoor tennis facility
It is hoped, with the increased revenue from Padel, the club could move to ‘phase two’ of development, constructing the Island’s ‘first and only indoor’ purpose-built tennis facility, which was paused due to the Covid pandemic.
The club also says the courts could provide significant health and wellbeing benefits while attracting new members and allowing the club to maintain its facilities to the best possible standard.
The club, on Playstreet Lane near Ryde Academy, could add the enclosed courts with integrated floodlights, behind the tennis ones.
In planning documents, the club said the courts, which are 20m long by 10m wide, could sit at ease within the site and cause no harm to the character and appearance of the surrounding area.
View the plans
You can view the plans on the council’s planning register (24/00468/FUL).
The public consultation runs until 26th April 2024.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
