Participation
Padel is a fast-paced, social sport that's easy to pick up, but difficult to put down. It can be played by anyone and everyone, no matter your age or ability.
There are more and more opportunities to play padel as more venues and courts open up across Britain, and more programmes and initiatives to ensure everyone can get involved are developed.
Head to our court finder to find your nearest venue and check out below some of the programmes on offer to open up padel.
Launched after the London 2012 Paralympic Games, our Open Court programme has grown to become one of the largest disability programmes of its kind, maximising opportunities for disabled people to play tennis and padel right across Britain. The continued development of the programme, part-funded by Sport England, forms part of our wider commitment to inclusion.
Under the award-winning programme, disability padel sessions are growing rapidly throughout the country, providing a greater opportunity for disabled people to play adaptive padel close to where they live, as well as having the opportunity to compete in LTA inclusive padel competitions.
We are using the platform of this sector-leading programme as a foundation for change in our Disability Plan, Open for All, launched in December 2022.
By working with the 38 Open Court leads from across Britain, the LTA is working to ensure that padel venues are as accessible, welcoming, enjoyable and inspiring as possible.
Find out what you can do to make sure your venue is accessible and inclusive at the link below.
Engaging in LTA Padel tournaments provides an excellent opportunity to test your abilities against a diverse range of opponents, helping you grow as a player and become part of a vibrant padel community.
LTA Padel competitions are organised into five levels from Grade 5 - Grade 1. Grade 5 is the perfect introduction to graded competition for new or inexperienced players, while Grade 1 encompasses the top padel competitions in Britain.
Meanwhile, there are junior padel competitions taking place across Great Britain for children of all ages and abilities.
Safeguarding continues to be at the very heart of everything we do - our number one priority is to ensure every person involved in tennis and padel are kept safe from harm.
Our safeguarding work has been sector leading in recent years, and over this period we’ve transformed our approach, ensuring we are using best-in-class procedures, systems and processes to safeguard the well-being of all. These same processes and systems also apply to padel, and as we continue to grow the sport and ensure people of all ages and from all different backgrounds can get on-court, we’re making sure that the growing number of padel coaches and venues all comply with the same robust safeguarding standards in order to keep participants safe.
In 2022 we were announced as the winner of the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Safeguarding’ category at the inaugural Sacpa Annual Safeguarding Awards - the only sports governing body recognised across the awards and for the past seven years have received the highest possible rating in our annual inspection by the Child Protection in Sport Unit.
Visit our safeguarding hub to find out more, report any safeguarding concerns you have and to discover about our venue safeguarding support process. You can also access resources for your venue, coaches, players and parents including training, template policies and guidance and support for young people in Padel.