A new sports club says it wants to support and create a new community in Noble’s Park and the wider island.
Manx Padel has spent two years developing six courts on the former netball and tennis courts in the Douglas park to encourage people to try something new.
The sport sees pairs playing against each other in enclosed courts and is widely seen as a hybrid of squash and tennis.
The club has one fully accessible court, but the other five also have ramp access to the entrances.
The impressive facility also has floodlights, while rackets are available to hire from the café opposite.
The club says Douglas Council, which manages the park, has supported the idea from the beginning and has been ‘really helpful’ throughout the process.
Co-owner Peter Pearce says the plans took longer than expected because they wanted to do everything ‘once and right’.
Speaking ahead of the weekend’s official opening, Pearce explained how the facility had come to fruition: ‘It started a couple of years ago. Myself and two others, Sam and Richard, sat down and came up with the idea.
‘We saw how there’s a lot of traction in the sport and when we played it, we loved it.
‘I’ve got a young family over here as well and want to just offer them more opportunities, more sports and things like that. So we started engaging with Douglas City Council, went through the planning permission and I think all that started about two years ago. And then maybe a year ago we met Angela and Andy.
‘We’ve probably taken longer than we should have done but equally we’ve given everything a lot of thought.’
Angela Von Hoesslin, another co-owner, adds padel is ideal for young children and older adults: ‘My husband and I came here a year ago and the condition was that he built me a padel court.
‘He went off and found Peter and Richard and basically proposed something with them and they told us, “let’s do this” and it went from one padel court to three courts to six courts. Now 10 months later and we now have six courts. And they’re the best courts ever.
‘We did take longer purely because we didn’t want just normal courts. We wanted to go for the panoramic, top-of-the-range courts. And it took a while and we did fight on the colour, but I won in the end!
‘The whole point of this wasn’t about anything except bringing the community together. We’re in a park, there’s lots of families here, everyone wants to do something and we want to offer it to them. So we’ve brought it up, we’ve made a community, we’re not overpricing. We just want everyone to come and enjoy it and just have fun.’
Pearce added: ‘We’ve spent a lot of time trying to find the right coach and set up the right structures as well.
‘Angela’s done a great job getting into the schools and pulling together some plans on coaching and engagement. Like we said, that’s the core of what we want to do.’