Select a region
Island Padel welcomed local and international padel stars to the soft reopening of its court after months of reconstruction work following storm damage.
Last November, the St Clement-based facility was left in ruins overnight due to the impact of Storm Ciarán.
After months of reconstruction work, Island Padel recently welcomed talented players back to the court for a soft reopening.
Pictured: Island Padel's facilities were hit hard by Storm Ciarán in November last year. (Rob Currie)
The celebration included a large mixed-doubles tournament and an exhibition match, pitting two of the best local men’s players against a world-ranked Spanish duo.
The mixed-doubles tournament was a huge success with three separate divisions enabling players of all abilities to take part in fun and competitive matches.
However, the main draw of the weekend was the exhibition show-match between the Local Defenders (Scott “Soft Hands” Clayton and Aaran “The Hurricane” Higgins) and the Spanish Invaders (Ruben “The Eagle” Aguila and Alvaro “The Hurricane Chaser” Peccos) which attracted well over 100 spectators.
Much to the dismay of the Jersey duo, the dynamic Spaniards taking out the local boys 6-2 6-4 in a well-fought game.
Higgins said of the exhibition: “The first set was a bit nerve-racking with everyone watching.
“I was playing very nervous and half-hearted lobs because the Spanish guys had really strong smashes.
"There was so much spin on them, the ball would just hit the glass and go 10 feet high and out of the court, you really don’t have a chance of getting that back.
“But as soon as the second set hit, that was it, the fear had dropped and we were really in it. Unfortunately, they won the match on the day, but that won’t happen again.”
Pictured: Alvaro Peccos regularly comes to Jersey share his expertise with local padel players (credit: Tom Middleton)
After the successful event, Island Padel co-founder Clayton said: “We were so pleased to see our community back together at the padel courts this past weekend.
"Obviously, the last eight months have been a very testing and difficult period for us, but we have always felt a massive outpouring of support from the community."
With the soft re-opening over and done with and the padel facility back in full swing, there’s no rest for Clayton and the rest of the Island Padel team as they prepare for the official re-opening of the facility in September.
The court is set to host the largest padel tournament across the whole of Great Britain.
With a prize pool of around £10,000, it is anticipated to attract more top national and international talent.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.