One man's quest to bring padel to his home town
Padel is a mixture of tennis and squash and has been growing in popularity across the UK.
Callum Slater has worked with the New Croft hub in Haverhill to open the town's first ever padel courts [Contributed] When Callum Slater became obsessed with padel while on holiday about 10 years ago, he grew frustrated when he could not find any local courts to play at. As the years went on and the sport grew in popularity, the 33-year-old from Haverhill in Suffolk would drive about an hour to get his fix of the sport each weekend. Fed up of having to drive so far, he took matters into his own hands and set about bringing padel to his local town.
After months of graft, his vision has now almost come to life as Haverhill's first courts open to the public on 3 May. Slater was introduced to the sport in 2016 when holidaying in Spain and said he was "instantly hooked", thanks to the ease of the game and its social aspect. But he said every time he came back to the UK over the years he could not play as there were very limited courts.
The sport, which is a blend of tennis and squash, started to rapidly grow in popularity in the UK over the past five years. Research from the Lawn Tennis Association last year shows 860,000 adults and juniors in the country now play the sport, more than double the previous year. The new Haverhill courts officially open to the public on the first May bank holiday [Contributed] Slater said in 2017 he started to see more courts appearing and by 2023 he was travelling about an hour to Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire to play.
"I was doing that every weekend," the former PE teacher said. "My friends and family would be travelling an hour each way to play so I knew [Haverhill] would be a prime spot. " Slater said the sport was excellent for all abilities and he believed it was something that could benefit his community.