LTA and Jason Manford treat Manchester school pupils to Christmas padel session

With schools approaching the end of the autumn term, a number of pupils from secondary school across Manchester had one last surprise in store for them before breaking up for the Christmas holidays. 

As a reward for their hard work throughout the year, newly-announced LTA Padel Ambassador, Manford organised two days of padel sessions at PurePadel, Manchester for 70 secondary students from the local area, who were nominated to attend by their schools. 

The community activation, facilitated by the LTA, sought to get as many padel rackets in the children’s hands, get them playing and grow their interest for a sport which is seeing annual participation near 200,000.

In Manchester specifically, the LTA is working with Manchester City Council and Manchester Active to produce a local padel plan for the city – the first of its kind in Great Britain. This will support the development of local facilities, support for clubs and schools in the area, and build greater awareness and appetite for the sport in Manchester, all allowing the children who got on court today the chance to keep playing into the future.    

Find out more about the JM Padel Academy

Manford reached out to secondary schools via Instagram to invite them to participate in the morning’s coaching and gaming sessions, a fantastic way to introduce students to the world's fastest-growing sport. 

All eight schools in attendance received five free Dunlop Sports UK rackets, as well as a voucher for all students who attended to return to PurePadel for a free session. 

Reflecting on the activities, Manford said: “It was a great morning, being able to see kids who have hardly ever heard of padel picking up a racket and playing the sport, loving it, and hopefully playing it again.”

"We want to help get as many people playing the game as possible. I want to make sure that nobody gets left behind and encourage more children or people who might not think the sport is for them, to get involved."

LTA Padel Manager Steve Yeardley added: “It has been brilliant to collaborate alongside Jason Manford to help us reach wider audiences and open padel up. It was amazing to see so many kids participate with smiles on their faces. PurePadel have been very generous and offered each child a return voucher to the centre, which will provide further opportunity for the pupils to participate and the enjoy the sport once again. The LTA looks forward to facilitating more of these community sessions.”