ENTHUSIASTIC kids from Rugby have had a chance to try out one of Europe’s fastest-growing sports at the town’s new leisure centre.
Pupils from Brooke School, a school for young people with learning and cognition difficulties, were served up a Padel taster session at David Lloyd Rugby, as part of a drive to make the game more accessible to people of all ages and abilities.
The fast racquet sport is a hybrid of tennis and squash, played in doubles on an enclosed court with rules and scoring similar to tennis – making it accessible and easy to learn.
At the Houlton-based leisure centre, the Brooke School pupils played in four-player per court taster games across the one-hour session.
The David Lloyd Club has also donated other equipment to assist with the school’s sports programme.
Wayne Harrison, Post 16 lead at Brooke School, said: “We are very grateful to David Lloyd Rugby for the invite to attend the Padel taster session.
“Our pupils appreciate the opportunity to go and try new activities away from the school and they really enjoyed their first-ever attempt at playing Padel as a sport.
“Many of our pupils often struggle with hand-to-eye coordination, and the Padel session certainly helped with that. Overall, they got a lot of enjoyment out of it and we would all certainly recommend Padel as a healthy and fun activity to get involved with.”
Jack Philips, General Manager of David Lloyd Rugby said: “We wanted to show how this fast-paced and fun game is a great way to get kids and their parents to get active and have a great time together, and demonstrate the accessibility of Padel and how easily it can be enjoyed by children of all ages and abilities.
“The Brooke School pupils who attended the taster session got a fantastic understanding of how much fun Padel can be to play everyone really seemed to enjoy the session. We hope that taster sessions like this help to inspire others to take up the game.”
