Play Padel Sheffield: more courts needed to meet demand in South Yorkshire
The CEO & founder of Sheffield's first padel club has been reflecting on a busy first year in business
Last updated 23rd Mar 2026
Over the last 12 months - you may've heard more people in South Yorkshire & North Derbyshire talking about the rapid growth of padel.
The racket sport - which is a combination of tennis & squash - is played in a glass cage with wire mesh.
It's widely regarded as the fastest growing sport in the world.
Play Padel Sheffield - just off Abbeydale Road South - opened its doors for the first time in late March last year.
Since then - the popularity of the sport has exploded - & now courts are popping up all over South Yorkshire & North Derbyshire.
Alex Fleming started Play Padel alongside his mates - including Sheffield born England cricket legend Joe Root, Rotherham United goalkeeper Cameron Dawson - & a handful of others.
Alex is the founder of Play Padel in Sheffield:
"We've had over 6,000 people through our doors since we opened last year, and tens of thousands more still haven't even had a racket in their hand yet.
"The market is massive; the demand is really high and there's loads more venues coming.
"The game is growing massively all around the world, but especially in the UK - and thankfully in South Yorkshire.
"To have been full for 17 hours a day - 7 days a week - on all four courts for nearly a year - it's blown us away.
"It's been amazing and I think that's credit to the Sheffield community; we've got such good sporting heritage - we're a massive sporting city.
"It's super fun and easy to get into.
"We've had three generations on a court at once here.
"There's people who haven't played sport for 30 years since they last had a PE lesson who've come down here enjoyed it.
"It just gets people active, running around, sweating and laughing with each other.
"That's the main objective - to get people smiling and sweating when they walk out of our venue."
There's now around 6 Padel clubs across South Yorkshire & North Derbyshire - with more expected to open up sometime in 2026.
You can find out more about Play Padel Sheffield on their website below: