15 tips for promoting your new padel club
Hold a ‘ grand opening’ of the court - invite locals, athletes, local businesses, councils, Regional Sports Trusts representatives and media to the event.
Communicate your padel offering on existing club social media channels, website and local social media sites. Tag in @padelnewzealand, and other local clubs/community organisations to spread the word.
Offer free sessions for people to try out padel at the start. It is said that once you play padel 3 times, you are hooked. Many clubs in Australia offered some weeks of free padel at the start.
Have an exhibition match to show off the sport in the community.
Padel is a very social sport. Provide a social area, bar and seating to encourage people to stay and be social.
Get articles about padel in the local press, try local radio stations who are looking for interesting and new stories.
Hold regular club nights (sorted by ability), leagues, club championships, ladies padel mornings and a team league, regular competitions and matches with other padel clubs.
If you don’t have a booking system like Matchi or Playtomic at the start, set up a Whatsapp group at the start for beginners/Intermediate/Advanced players so they can easily organise games between themselves. Finding 3 other players be a challenge in these busy times, making this process easier will encourage more play.
Contact local schools and sports teachers, show them the game.
Tap into local racket sports and other sports communities. Get local teams playing against each other.
Set up a league for local businesses to compete.
Offer lower rates for off peak times and subsidised play for youth and students.
Run kids camps in holidays.
Have a club night and bring in a coach to show playing techniques and go through the rules to make sure everyone is playing the same game in the club.
Nurture a strong padel community, find 6-10 people(padel buddies/promoters) who are enthusiastic and want to help create a great club with you and support events and other players.