OVER 500 schoolchildren have experienced their first taste of padel in 2022 thanks to a new community not-for-profit organisation.
Working in conjunction with Island Padel in St Clement, Padel For All has helped provide free, six-week programmes for primary schools across Jersey over the past nine months, with a focus being placed on improving physical and mental wellbeing among youngsters.
Padel For All engaged leading professionals in schools’ sessions to help them design their scheme and the coaching team also attended similar programmes in Spain, considered to home of padel, to better their understanding of the grassroots side of the sport.
Morgan Jubb, one of three founding members of Padel For All, said: ‘Our key objective is to promote and grow the wonderful sport of padel in Jersey on a fully inclusive community basis. As part of this objective, we aim to provide padel to those individuals, groups and organisations who may not necessarily have the funds to play the sport.
‘We have received so much positive feedback from the schools, so much so we already have a long waiting list for schools that want to participate in 2023. This has all been possible due to our partnership with Island Padel and receiving grants from The Jersey Community Foundation and the States of Jersey, as well as our primary corporate sponsor Rathbones and other generous donations from Mourant and Sancus.’
Phil Bain, from Rathbones, said: ‘Community is important to us and we have therefore been delighted to support both Island Padel and Padel For All in building an all-inclusive padel community in Jersey.’
