Somerset's first public padel tennis courts open

Somerset’s first public padel tennis courts have opened.

The two new outdoor courts are located at Brean Country Club and are available for matches and training.

Padel tennis originates from Mexico and is a popular racquet sport that combines elements of tennis and squash.

It is played on an enclosed court about a third of the size of a tennis court and groups of mixed ages and abilities can play together.

The courts are available for people to learn and play the sport and there's also an option for people to register to find someone to play with at the club.

Director of Brean Leisure Park, Sarah House, said: "It was a bit of a punt but there aren't any other public courts in Somerset, so we just thought, why not?"

She added: "You usually play it with four people whilst you can play it as singles, with two, but you get a lot more sort of atmosphere and fun when playing as doubles."

The sport uses similar balls to tennis but smaller, more solid bats.

The club has a qualified tennis trainer to help people learn padel ball.

Stephen Pearce is an LTA level 4 tennis coach, who has been teaching that sport for 17 years.

He said: "I'd say padel is a lot easier to pick up, the main difference is that there is no overarm serve, so you start by bouncing the ball and hitting it across the court and it's really easy to sort of pick up.

"In one short lesson, people can just learn the basics and actually just play."

He added: "Tennis players pick it up really quickly because they have quite good hand-eye and the striking skills are already there.

"Squash players quite like it because you've got the wall so you can bounce it off the glass and it works really well for doubles.

"It's really sociable, and super, super fun."

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