Jason Manford’s school padel present

As a reward for their hard work throughout the year, newly-announced LTA Padel Ambassador Jason Manford organised two days of padel sessions at Pure Padel, 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. It 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,.    

Jason reached out to secondary schools via Instagram to invite them to participate in the coaching and game sessions. All eight schools received five free Dunlop Sports UK rackets as well as a voucher for all students who attended to return to Pure Padel for a free session. 

Reflecting on the morning, Jason 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.” 

As part of Jason’s LTA Ambassador role he will help support and facilitate the growth of padel, helping open up the opportunities to underserved communities and especially children. 

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.” 🎾