Derbyshire agency to promote new sport to build UK wide participation
Padel, is also coming to a new centre in Derby at the former Powerleague centre in Pride Park and has been appointed to host the 16th European Championship Qualifier Event between Friday 30th Sept – Sunday 2nd October which will attract teams from all over Europe.
The Great Britain teams that will take on the best in Europe at these Championships was named recently and 17 male teams and 13 female teams will be competing in Derby, with British No.1 Tia Norton leading the British challenge.
Padel is a mix between tennis and squash: The aim is to play the ball over the net, but unlike tennis, players can use the walls surrounding the court to return the ball to their opponents. Purpose Media is inviting local businesses to attend a special event on Thursday 29 September so they can try the new sport and have a chance to learn more about how to play.
Commenting, Grace Golden, Client Service Director at Purpose Media said, “ Padel is one of the fastest growing sports in the world enjoyed by David Beckham, Andy Murray and Lionel Messi, but there’s a chance many will not yet have heard of it and our aim is to change this by implementing co-ordinated social media, PR, and email marketing strategies.”
Rosco Muller, Country Manager from ‘We are Padel’ said, “Our focus is on fun and community. We are committed to creating the best setting for players to enjoy their matches, events and celebrations. We are looking for more suitable venues across the UK and expect interest to grow very quickly with the support from the team at Purpose Media and other partners that are helping us to increase the profile of this exciting new sport.”
To learn more about Padel and see how it is played, here’s a short intro video: https://youtu.be/rSIvS-Skg28
To book to attend the event on 29 September please email grace.golden@purposemedia.co.uk
The first padel court was created by Enrique Corquera in the late 1960s. He wanted to build a tennis court in his house, but since the space was limited for a traditional tennis court, he decided to use a small area surrounded by walls and metal fences.
Corcuera invited a Spanish friend, the nobleman Alfonso Hohenloe, to play padel at his home, and he liked it so much that when he returned to Marbella in 1974 he decided to build a padel court in his sports centre, the Marbella Club. It was there that some Argentinian athletes discovered it and decided to import this new game to Argentina, where in just a few years padel became a sport played by millions of people.
Padel was officially recognised in 1991, when the International Padel Federation was established in Madrid and is one of the most popular sports in Spain today. It is the second biggest sport after football. The first professional padel tournament started in 2005 under the name Padel Pro Tour (PPT).