LTA appoints Yeardley to new Padel Manager post
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) – padel’s governing body in Great Britain – has announced the key appointment of Steve Yeardley as its new Padel Manager.
Steve, the former head coach for padel venue operator Padel4all and centre manager at its Basset Down facility in Swindon before joining Tennis Wales as coaching and volunteer manager, will work across both padel development and performance, with a particular focus on developing the game at grassroots level.
The role, which reports into LTA Head of Padel Tom Murray, is a new, wider-remit, position created following the recent departure of Padel Performance Manager Matt Stanforth.
In a statement announcing Steve’s appointment the LTA said: “The role…will work with relevant departments from across the LTA to bring an enhanced focus on strengthening the grassroots of the game as it grows rapidly. This includes developing initiatives to grow the player base, including programmes and making the competition landscape more accessible and appealing to players. Steve will also ensure a closer working relationship with operators and venues, ensuring the LTA provides appropriate guidance and support to help them grow the sport, including help to grow the padel coach workforce.”
Steve said: “Padel is at an exciting time in the UK and I feel very privileged to have joined whilst we are continuing to see growth across all areas of this sector. Having been working within the padel industry for the past four to five years I feel I can bring enthusiasm and energy to different aspects of the padel landscape to continue the superb growth of this sport. I really want to work alongside the fantastic padel operators that we have in the UK, to really make sure that together we continue to build into the wider growth of this sport, so that they feel engaged, valued and fully aligned with the direction of travel with the LTA’s padel strategy.”
The LTA’s stated intention of building better relationships with the industry is sure to be welcomed by many within the padel sector; a growing number of people and organisations are voicing frustrations with the governing body at what they see as its inaction at fully supporting and driving forward the sport. This week the spotlight has been on juniors, with frustrated parents self-funding 14 top GB U18s to attend the FIP Juniors European Padel Championships in Budapest in the absence of support from the LTA.
Role
Steve’s role includes helping deliver the Padel Performance Pathway, which identifies, develops and supports the most promising British padel players. He, with a team of coaches, will support the GB national padel teams, including with camps and tournaments. He will develop a network of performance training hubs and work with other teams in the LTA to develop padel coaches capable of developing players at each age and stage of the pathway.
He has extensive experience in coaching padel having previously worked as head coach for Padel4all and has been involved in developing padel coaching resources for the LTA website. These include working alongside Jo Ward as content developer for the LTA on recent LTA L2 Padel Instructor. He also co-authored the Coaching Kids Padel CPD coaching development workshop.
The appointment comes ahead of the formal launch of the LTA’s new padel strategy next week, which will contain further details on plans to grow the game and engage with the padel community. The association is also in the process of appointing regional tennis/padel Delivery Managers to deliver the LTA’s tennis and padel participation strategy at a local level to ‘maximise impact, with a focus on growing and diversifying the player base’ under its ‘Tennis Opened Up’ mission to ‘transform communities through tennis, focusing on three areas – making tennis welcoming, enjoyable and inspiring to everyone’.
Tom Murray, LTA Head of Padel said: “We have taken the decision to change this role to place a bigger emphasis on working with the rest of the sector, particularly operators, coaches and workforce. Steve comes from a padel background and knows people across the industry. He will be a great addition to the LTA. It’s an exciting time for padel and we’ll be saying more about plans when we publish our new padel strategy next week.”
Court numbers
The development of padel courts has boomed in the last year. There are no official statistics as to how many the UK now has but it is thought to be in excess of 500 courts. Information provided by the LTA to The Bandeja in April revealed that in the last four years the association had funded – or was in the process of funding – more than 60 courts across 34 sites via its Quick Access Loan scheme, which gives clubs a 10 year repayment window. 🎾
