80+ kids, two courts and two very busy afternoons!

We ran our first two junior padel demo days at Naas LTC, on Wednesday 26 August and Sunday 6 September, and 80+ kids came through the gate. We were hoping for 20 to 24 per day, but with the buzz around padel at the moment, we will have a great junior programme in no time.

Two courts, a pile of borrowed rackets and a little bit of noise later, we came away with the clearest signal we could have asked for: there is real appetite for junior padel in Naas.

What actually happened on the days

We split the groups into rotations so everyone got court time rather than queue time. Short games, small teams, minimal standing around. The format was simple. Give them the basics, get them playing a game within the first few minutes.

Each day the 7 and 8 year olds came first. Thirty minutes, starting on court 1, the 'big' court (for them!). We began with some hand feeding to get them comfortable with racket and ball, then introduced one of the trickiest concepts in padel for a beginner: the back glass. From there we moved them onto court 2, split into four quadrants to make two mini courts, and they were hitting in and playing games.

Following that we had the 9 and 10 year olds. A great group who managed to rally pretty quickly, which is the joy of being in a tennis club. We got them going with smaller mini games on court 2, exploring the court and different shots like the serve and the lob, and working on fundamental movement skills like catching, throwing and striking. A similar session followed with the 11 and 12 year olds.

Then we had the start of the teens, the 15+ year olds. Wow, what a group. These really excelled. All coming from tennis, so the game play came easy. We had 8 in this group, a nice even split of 4 and 4 across both courts. Boys and girls smiling and laughing playing padel. It's going to be a good term.

The last group each day was the 12, 13 and 14 year olds. A bigger number at 10, but with a simple rotation we still managed to get them all playing and scoring straight away having fun.

Why we are building this properly

Padel at the club has grown fast. Around 500 of our members have now played, and the courts are busy most evenings. The obvious gap is juniors. Right now there is no structured route for a young player in Kildare, or in Ireland, who wants to take padel seriously. That is a strange thing to say about a sport Ireland is starting to compete in internationally.

We are building a programme: proper age bands, a curriculum that progresses, and a clear route from first session to first competition for anyone who wants it. And once our club gets the two additional courts we need, we will deliver a great programme!

What comes next

We will email all parents a survey over the weekend, so keep an eye on your inbox. That will tell us what days and times suit, and how many places we need in each age band.

Thanks to everyone who came along and see you on court soon!