The Bandeja Magazine Issue 2

CLUB FEATURE: epsom LTC
Midnight booking
battles in the Surrey Hills
Has Epsom Lawn
Tennis Club written
the rule book
when it comes to
introducing padel
to its membership?
Davina Hyde
find outs…
Davina Hyde (centre, pink skirt) with fellow Epsom players
including club chairman Mark Ayers (right).
If ever there’s a blueprint needed
of how to integrate padel into
a traditional English lawn tennis
club then Epsom is well-placed to
write it.
For not only has the Surrey club
established such a thriving padel
community that players have vied
to book courts at the stroke of
midnight, it paid for its first court
within two years and then achieved
the unimaginable for most LTCs
- Number One grass court was
turned into two new padel courts.
And all of this within the space of
three years, including lockdown.
It’s an amazing achievement
that reflects the hard work and
commitment of a young and
dynamic committee comprised of
tennis and padel enthusiasts, some
of whom had played the game
on tennis club holidays to Majorca
before introducing it to the club.
Planning
Epsom’s padel journey began
shortly after the LTA announced,
in May 2019, that it was taking the
sport under its wing. By the end
of June the club had submitted a
planning application for a court
and in the August it was granted,
a timescale that could only be
dreamt of now.
Club chairman Mark Ayers said:
“It was a leap of faith and
although we had courage
in our convictions, we
didn’t really know how
well it would fly.”
But fly it did, with the new court
taking unused lawn space in
front of the clubhouse and
quickly attracting interest. Once
established, padel membership
was an add-on to the subscriptions
for those who wished to play and
open to non-members as
a separate membership.
To promote the sport the
committee ran open days,
including an exhibition match
of GB players. It also allowed
members to try padel for the
first couple of months without
joining and purchased rackets
and balls so they didn’t have to
buy their own. Initially a three
month trial membership was
offered before the start of the
full membership year.
Fun social evenings were organised
with four people playing and
eight off, with arguably more time
spent in the bar than on court!
Membership filled quickly and was
capped at 100.
Lockdown put a spanner in the
works and created huge pentup
demand from members who
really missed their padel, as Mark
explained: “When we came out
of lockdown there was huge
demand for court time and there
were booking battles going on at
midnight. Members were staying up
and, at one minute past midnight,
the courts would get booked up for
two weeks. It became a nightmare
to manage, especially for those
who retired early to bed! Court
occupancy was approaching 100%
most days during that period.”
More courts were needed, but they
proved a different kettle of fish to
the first because Epsom needed to
lose one of its existing tennis courts,
most likely a grass court.
Following a six month consultation
period a proposal was put before
club members that two new padel
courts would built on Number One
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