The ECHO speaks to padel players about why the sport has become so popular in the city
The ECHO speaks to padel players about why the sport has become so popular in the city
12:29, 08 Feb 2026
From climbing up Moel Famau to wearing 110s, Scousers love setting the latest trends. Through the years we’ve seen some things stick and become a part of the city’s identity. Something that the city certainly seems to be obsessing over at the minute is padel.
The racket sport has taken Merseyside by storm, with padel courts popping up across the region and plenty more still in the pipeline. For anyone who hasn’t heard of it, padel is a fast-paced racket sport which combines elements of both squash and tennis.
The sport has got a long list of Scouse celebrity fans including Steven Gerrard, John Aldridge and Paddy Pimblett, who’ve all been spotted on courts. But why has the city become so obsessed with padel?
Paige Williams, 30, from West Derby first started playing padel after visiting her little sister in Spain. By chance, on the weekend she came home, Ignite Padel in West Derby had opened and were hosting an event. Paige decided to go down and took part in an Americano event, a type of tournament where players will go against different people. The 30-year-old “became addicted” to the sport.
Now, Paige, who used to play for Everton, is Women’s Head Coach at Ignite Padel, helping people keen to learn more about the sport develop their skills. She hosted one of the UK’s biggest Americano events for women, with 40 female players at the event at Ignite’s Speke site.
She told the ECHO: “It’s the ease of playing it. So it’s a little bit easier on your body. Whenever I turn up to Ignite, the court ranges from kids all the way up, I’ve played some women who were in the 70s. I think the accessibility for it just means that everyone can just pick up the racket and have a go at it.
“It’s a sport that’s brought all different walks of life together. So when we sit afterwards, someone’s a police officer, someone’s a heart surgeon, I think it’s the range of people it brings together because it’s so easy to play.
“We’re just a sporty city aren’t we? I feel like we pick up anything. If you look at how much sport comes from the city. We’ll just give anything a go.”
Similar to Paige, John Murphy, 37, from Huyton started getting into padel while he was on holiday for a friend’s wedding. The 37-year-old and his friends thought “this is unbelievable” and decided to start playing the sport back at home.
Through Linea Padel Club, John now takes part in a podcast on the sport and has hosted events, including charity events supporting men’s mental health. John said: “A lot of people started supporting us in the city and that was just it really. We just went with the flow which was more like a passion project.
“This sport is just amazing for the community, honest to god. It’s just bringing so many people together people who haven’t seen each other for 15, 20 years.
“You go to these padel centres on a Saturday night and they are absolutely chocker. It’s keeping people out of the pubs, you’ve got pensioners starting to play it, it’s just a community sport. It’s unbelievable.”
He added: “It doesn’t matter how good you are, how much you’ve played. You and three of your mates, you can just go and have a game and have some good quality time. Some of our girlfriends are starting to play. Me and all the lads are all going to play and the girls are going to play. I think because it’s so enjoyable and easy to play, that’s why people keep on coming back.
“We used to be in the pub every weekend and now we’re all playing Padel every weekend instead. I think it has changed our city at the moment, and it’s only going to grow.”
Director of Velocity Padel in Widnes, Steven Cosgrove, has also recognised the shift in people’s behaviour after falling in love with the sport. Steven, who is also director of Liverpool’s Otterspool Adventure, opened Velocity Padel at the end of 2025.
He told the ECHO: “My twin sons, they played padel for the first time with me last summer when we were on holiday. They’re now playing two or three times a week with me, wherever they can get a game.
“All their friends are now playing it. And what we’re seeing is a shift, even in their behaviour, where they would normally be going out for beers in town – the Friday, Saturday night – now they’re playing padel.
“It’s unbelievable what we’re seeing, what we’re experiencing. All their friends are now not drinking as much. They’re just trying to get games of padel in places.
“This sport, it really has got a grip of us and I think you’re going to see an explosion of it really throughout the country.”
Someone who has benefited from the padel boom is Sammy Arora. Sammy, 24, from Altrincham owns one of the fastest growing padel clubs in the UK, Pure Padel. He hopes to have 30 padel courts by the time he reaches 30 years of age.
Pure Padel hopes to bring a new premium padel club on Edge Lane at Liverpool Innovation Park with six covered courts underneath a 9.5m canopy to play in all weather conditions.
Submitted plans also feature a clubhouse with a food and beverage café, pro shop and social spaces, designed to make the club as much a place to spend time as it is to play sport. No opening date has yet been confirmed.
Pure Padel first opened its club in Alderley Park in October 2023 and has since launched sites in Manchester city centre, Darlington, Stockport, North Leeds and Nottingham.
It was thanks to a Liverpool hero that Sammy first got into padel. The first time the life-long Liverpool FC fan ever played padel was with Jurgen Klopp.
His dad, Bobby Arora – who is known for building the UK discount brand B&M alongside his family – won a game of padel with the former Reds manager at Melwood and surprised Sammy and his siblings.
He said: “That was one of the first courts in the country. So [Klopp] was actually a bit of a pioneer in the padel industry. I played it there, loved it, realised how easy it was, but I kind of didn’t think about it for a long time until I went on my year abroad to Milan.
“I went to a new city on my own, on an exchange year, knew no one, and my university had this padel society, and I joined it, and I ended up playing every day, and I met all my best friends in Milan there.
“That’s when I really got integrated with knowing the different courts, the different ways to book, the community etc. I was addicted and then I came back to England and was at Durham University and I ended up writing my university dissertation on it, about the growth of padel in the UK, and then started the business straight after.”
Asked why he thinks the sport is so popular, he said: “People nowadays are replacing pubs and drinking at nightclubs with healthier activities. And ever since COVID, people prefer to socialise in a competitive environment. People are now looking for new ways of interacting and socialising.”
