Keep Stratford Padel Club and Padel tennis alive!
Keep Stratford Padel Club and padel tennis alive!
Over the past year, Stratford Padel Club in London has become the home of padel tennis in the Olympic borough of Newham, and the largest padel club in the UK.
3 years ago we put our savings, borrowed money from family and with the insane enthusiasm and resilience of youth, we decided to open a padel club to share our love for this great sport. More than anything, we wanted to make it accessible and widely spread. Setting up a club in Stratford, with LLDC as our landlord, in the heart of the Olympic borough couldn’t have been more appropriate. The sport we love, that is so new to the UK, finding a home in the borough that decided to use sports and the Olympics to re-invent itself, even out inequality and give locals and children better life opportunities.
The COVID-19 crisis hit us while on a high: large number of players coming to the club, more newcomers trying the sport and loving it, active engagement with LLDC and local schools to grow the sport and engage future generations. For a business that has only been operating for 14 months, we proved the demand for the sport was there and was high.
Our courts were at full capacity during peak time and we have already applied for planning permission to expand the club with 2 more courts, one indoor and one outdoor; we had already invested significant funds in the expansion process. This was the only way we could fulfil our commitment to increase community participation in Newham and grow this sport.
This shows how even businesses that proved successful end up being hit by the crisis; purely because of the short time of operation we had, that didn’t allow us to build enough financial reserves, apart from the ones that got allocated towards growing the club.
Our players want us to stay alive and the sport needs us. #keepspcgoing
If we get approval to proceed with the extra courts, we have already committed to get as many of locals involved in the sport.
The funds we raise will definitely allow us to give free coaching for the disadvantaged children in Newham and we remain committed to that.
This campaign has been created by Friends of Stratford Padel Club, following the instant outpouring of support we received from our players after we published our story of trying to keep the sport and the club alive during the COVID-19 crisis.
You can read the article here: https://stratfordpadelclub.org/blog/f/has-the-future-of-padel-in-the-uk-been-thrown-into-question
So please donate what you can to keep the club alive.
In addition, Stratford Padel Club would also like to chip in with some rewards for your support:
1. £25 entitles you to a free SPC T-shirt
2. £50 entitles you to a free peak time match
3. £100 entitles to you to one month SPC membership
4. £250 entitles you to a 6 week academy course
5. £1000 entitles you to one year membership and a 6 week academy course
Thank you for your support and donation!
Stratford Padel Club team and Friends of Stratford Padel Club
#keepspcgoing
