A R1,5 million padel tennis court, set to introduce the “elite” sport to the community, will be built at the Lavender Hill CARES (Culture, Arts, Recreational, Education and Sport) complex.
Ahead of the much anticipated international A1 Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master, A1 Padel has announced its investment of over R1 million towards a padel court and development programme in Lavender Hill.
Llewellyn Rhoda, from Lavender Hill Cares, says the idea is to move away from traditional sports and to break into elitist sports.
“Padel tennis is an elitist sport because it is driven by money. If you want to play for an hour, it would cost from R200 to R600. The cost to play the sport is quite high. The equipment needed to play the sport is also very expensive; just to purchase a racquet is in excess of R3 000.
“It is an expensive sport but we will never be able to break into that market if we don’t do what we are currently doing.”
Rhoda adds that they intend to train coaches who, in turn, will teach children and expose them to the sport.
“Within the system that we have, the Department of cultural affairs and sport has coaches that are working within the school system.
“Hopefully, we will be able to develop into a district tournament, that could go into a Western Cape Tournament which can produce players, nationally and internationally.”
Responding to the question, why padel tennis and not any other sport, Rhoda says the natural ability to play the sport is in the community and that children need to be introduced to the sport, sooner than later.
“The natural ability to play the sport is here but we don’t want kids to wait until they go to university to be exposed to these things. The sooner we expose them to it, the better.
“Currently, the people with money are playing this sport and they are the best, but they are the best because they have not been exposed to the rest.
“Another critical thing is that we need to find new types of sport so that we expose our communities to the latest trends internationally because that trend is going to get exposure and potential opportunities.
“If we don’t expose kids to it, we will never know their true potential.”
Donavan Petersen, Cares operations manager, says Lavender Hill Cares is breaking new ground in terms of access and opportunity for learners.
“People look at sport as just physical fitness. But I think sport is important because of the CARES (Culture, Arts, Recreational, Education and Sport) aspect to it.”
Petersen adds that sport is important to foster a sense of identity.
“It gives a sense of belonging our youth need; a sense of identity which some feel they don’t have. And the belonging part, for example; do you want to belong to a gang in the context that a gang is your team? Or sport?
“Sport is important for social skills and developing respect and discipline which is very important.”
