Padel Tennis Ireland with its first Cork base at Fota Junction and which officially opened for business in January 2024 is delighted to announce a major expansion of its Cork facilities with plans to develop a state of the art 8 court campus in Bishopstown that will bring its Cork courts count to 16.
Founder & Managing Director Mark White said, “we are thrilled to announce this major campus expansion to the Western side of Cork city and with the phenomenal traction that our Fota Junction campus on the Eastern side of the city has received in just 6 month, we are hugely ambitious in wanting to have the very best campuses in and around Cork for our players and for everyone currently looking at the fastest growing sport in the world as something that they want to experience. We have secured a stunning site in Bishopstown for our next campus and it will be a bespoke design that will lend itself to our player model, corporate and family hospitality model and the pioneering model that we have now introduced for our Corporate Partners in our unique sports management programme. With easy access and ample parking, it will serve our growing audience from the Western side of the city and beyond. Our pathway to this second campus is part of our overall plans for Cork and also for a rollout of other Padel campuses around Ireland”.
Operations Director Jeremy Coyle said, “this is a super exciting time for Padel Tennis Ireland and securing a stunning site in Bishopstown for our expansion has been on our radar since last year. Our fully inclusive model of Padel is for everyone and we are thrilled with the welcome and support that we have received in Cork and are so looking forward to having more court capacity to deal with the exceptional demand that we have seen in our first 6 months in business here in Cork. Covering the Eastern and Western sides of the city is our key to making Padel accessible to everyone in Cork city and its suburbs and surrounding towns”.
Padel is a racket sport of Mexican origin, typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. Although padel shares the same scoring system as tennis, the rules, strokes, and technique are different. The balls used are similar but with a little less pressure. The main differences are that the court has walls and the balls can be played off them in a similar way as in the game of squash and that solid, stringless bats are used. The height of the ball being served must be at or below the waist level. According to the International Padel Federation (FIP) there are more than 25 million active players in more than 90 countries and Padel is worth about €2.5bn a year and growing in popularity at an exceptional rate.
