Two girls laughing while playing padel at a Pro Am Padel Tour community event

Padel the 'perfect vehicle' for young people's mental health

19/09/25 • 3 MINUTE READ

The power of padel to positively impact on mental health and wellbeing was clear on the faces of everyone who stepped on a court for the first time at the recent Pro Am Padel Tour Community Day led by the LTA.

Padel's well-known attributes — easy to learn, accessible, social, safe and fun — make the sport a potent vehicle for engaging people with all kinds of backgrounds and physical capabilities.

The Pro Am Padel Tour does precisely that. Now in its third year, it blends the glamour of pro-celebrity competition with grassroots participation and inclusion on its regular stops around the padel venues of Britain.

On 2 September at Pure Padel Stockport in Greater Manchester, a packed programme of free padel sessions engaged 200 young people and adults from local community organisations, many of whom experience barriers to sport participation and are therefore denied the many follow-on benefits it brings.

Boost Wellbeing CIC was one of the organisations invited along, with the aim of making its participants feel more active and socially connected.

Steve Flynn founded Boost Wellbeing six years ago as a non-profit organisation that delivers weekly sport and physical activity classes to support people of all ages who suffer from mental ill health or social isolation. Many of its members are signposted by the NHS, social care or other mental health organisations in the voluntary sector.

"It felt really inclusive, sociable and enjoyable," said Steve after eight people aged between teens and 50s from Boost Wellbeing were given an introduction to padel and guided matchplay by LTA coaches.

"I think people felt really comfortable here and it was really good fun. It was played at a nice pace and that makes a real difference for people who aren't necessarily naturally sporty."

We've got people with mental and physical health issues and they're not necessarily natural-born athletes, but they were able to really get involved today. Creating new opportunities is what's most important and that's definitely what's been achieved today.

Steve Flynn, Boost Wellbeing CIC

He added: "For all the guys who came down, it was their first experience and there was a real buzz around the court.

"When I shared with them that they had the opportunity to do it again with the vouchers we received, they were delighted. We'll hopefully look to make it a regular occurence because it seemed like such an accessible sport.

"We've got people with mental and physical health issues and they're not necessarily natural-born athletes, but they were able to really get involved today. Creating new opportunities is what's most important and that's definitely what's been achieved today."

Other organisations engaged on the day included the Jason Manford Padel Academy, Altrincham FC women's first team, and players from Manchester Revolution, one of the UK’s leading wheelchair basketball clubs, who were guided by GB No.1 female wheelchair padel player Kristen Paskins and GB No.4 male wheelchair padel player Louis Telford.

Manchester United Foundation Girls' Academy also brought groups of young people for their first taste of the sport. The Foundation of the 20-time English title winners uses sport to engage with over 40,000 children and young people a year from the 20 most deprived areas across Greater Manchester, broadening their horizons and supporting through with whatever setbacks life has thrown at them.

"We work with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, so being invited to the Pro Am Padel Tour opened up access to those who wouldn't ordinarily have that chance to be able to try padel," said Manchester United Foundation Education & Employment Manager, Ciaran Donnelly.

"The coaches were really inspirational and very patient with them. They taught them the basics and quite quickly left them to start playing by themselves. That's one of the special things about padel — you can pick it up quickly and start having fun with your friends.

"It's so easy to pick up, which is perfect for kids who want everything really quickly these days. You're close to the people across the net, you don't have to go fetching the ball all the time, it's coming back at you fast and often, so there's a high level of skill repetition which means skill levels go up quite quickly too.

"Overall, there's a lot of different factors which mean it really engages the types of young people we work with who might not necessarily be competent or confident straight away."

All these attributes connect directly into positive impacts on kids' sense of wellbeing and mental health.

"We want them to be healthier, happier, more connected and more skilled," says Donnelly. "Even though they're connected to more people than ever before through the internet, they can still become very isolated in their own bedrooms. We want them to feel connected to something bigger so they don't feel alone."

One participant from the Foundation, 13-year-old Ellie from Bolton, certainly felt the benefits from the day.

"I really, really enjoyed it," she said. "It was brilliant playing with my mates. I'd never played it properly before, but I like tennis and it's really similar. It's really tricky to play the ball off the back walls at first, but I got better at it by the end!"

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