Building A Padel Court in Kenya : 3 Types of Courts
Padel tennis has become the latest global sensation taking everyone from Europe to Middle East by storm. It has finally arrived in the USA and courts are springing up across the country targeting the over 300million market. Padel has also exploded in popularity in England having initially lagged. England the original home of lawn tennis has finally fallen in love with padel tennis and padel tennis centres are spreading across most parts of the country with London and its environs still the main hotspots.
While the game originally started in South America, it is Spain which has driven its meteoric explosion and also continues to dominate the major and most prestigious padel league ‘Premier Padel’.
Premier Padel has become the dominant league of the sport after the Qatari funded enterprise
acquired the once popular World Padel Tour ‘WPT’.There is a push by the FIP ( International Padel Federation) to drive the sport to achieve Olympic status in the year 2032.
Locally, the formation of the Kenya Padel Federation has established efforts to develop the sport in the country and bring formal national rankings and tournaments all across Kenya. With the game’s popularity, many people are looking into building a padel tennis court in Kenya.
The game comes in the standard doubles format of 20x10m and the singles format of 20x6m. The most common padel court in Kenya is the panoramic padel court. With only 2 corner posts holding the back glasses, this allows great view for players and spectators to follow and enjoy the action. This accounts for more than 90% of the courts in the world not just in Kenya. With a variety of manufacturers in Europe, Middle East and China! 2022 we made history building the very first padel tennis court in East Africa!
Standard Padel court:
One of the older models of padel courts in the early 2000s, this model has quickly fallen out of favor with most commercial and public padel clubs. With additional 16 steel columns supporting the back glasses, it provided additional safety and structural integrity but at the cost of good wide visibility. In addition, the cost of the Standard padel court is not much cheaper than the panoramic padel court. In fact, in Kenya, this model tends to attract much higher import customs taxes due to the high taxes charged on steel products
Super panoramic court:
This is usually the most advanced and expensive padel court in the market. It is aimed at the most high-end facilities, tournaments and exhibition facilities! Similar to the panoramic padel court, it removes the 4 corner steel posts altogether making the court an impressive spectacle of engineering.
Singles Court:
This is yet again another set up that is not common in the Kenyan market as well as the global padel scene. Taking up 20mx6m, it is mainly favoured for 1 vs 1 training sessions.
Building a Padel Court in Kenya? Tips to Look Out For!
If you are looking at building a padel tennis court in Kenya, you have come to the right place, below are the top tips to consider when choosing the right equipment to make your project a success.
With all the jargons and technical terms, we break it down to what you should look out for!
1. Court Glass:
This is one of the key components of the court both for function and the aesthetics. The glass should be well punctured holes, tempered and the recommended is 12mm thickness. Make sure that glass is produced by supplier with a CE certification to ensure the absolute highest quality and safety standards.
2. Accessories:
These need to be just as high quality as the rest of the components of the padel court. Ensure to
get the highest quality 304 machine cut stainless steel components that do not rust in the harsh conditions outdoor. These include bolts, screws, glass connectors, washers and rubber sleeves.
3. Turf/Carpet (indoor vs outdoor) and turf sand infill.
The turf is perhaps the most sensitive component of the padel court. Choosing the wrong turf could lead to the failure of even the best padel court project with the most expensive courts. With pile height ranging from 10mm to 13mm, monofilament vs fibrillated yarns, multi layer backing with SBR coatings to provide some cushioning, higher vs lower dtex and varying turf densities.
It is important to understand your turf needs before you order your padel court. Some providers have taken the extra step of getting certified by renown testing agencies and laboratories like the Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV) a leading research lab in Spain.
It is important to note that there is no universal standard for padel turfs, a matter of preference, some players prefer faster firmer turfs while others like the softer cushioned turfs with slower ball speed. However avoid the pitfalls of buying cheaper padel turfs that wear out quickly or develop bubbles and wrinkles in warm weather. Also important to consider is the infill sanding required. Different set ups require a wide range of sand infill ranging from 4-12 kgs per sqm. Sand plays a critical role in game speed, longevity of the turf and player mobility.
4. Court Steel Columns:
This is yet again a very important and crucial part of the court, carrying the weight of the glasses which can weight up to 1,800kg. When selecting the steel columns of your court, check on the thickness of the columns from 80mm, 100mm, 150mm width and thickness of at least 3mm to 4mm. The finishing of the steel is also important, with a minimum of being hot dip galvanised Q235 steel.
For areas with high humidity and salty ocean water, it is usually recommended to have the steel members double galvanized.
5. Civil Works and Installation:
The typical court sits on a 21x11m plinth of about 150mm thickness. While a general contractor can execute this easily, it is essential to use a seasoned padel court company in Kenya to deliver either an outdoor surface with the required surface runoff slopes or the indoor table flat finish. This is yet again critical as it directly affects the game play thus the customer experience. A poorly done flooring will render even the most expensive courts from the top global suppliers useless. Similar, turf installation is just as critical, getting the turf joints well done and ensuring the turf rests firmly on the floor on every square inch of the court!
6. Customizations:
Planning for your padel court can be exciting and therefore you might want to choose the colours of the steel columns, the color of the turf, logos and custom markings and also added some accessories like door and center net protectors. It is also possible to add brighter LED lights in place of the commonly available 200W x 8 units.
7. Padel Court Roofing and Canopies:
In Kenya, the majority of the commercial padel clubs have some variation of the courts roofed, we currently do not have indoor padel courts in Kenya, those are common in Europe, Middle East due to the very extreme weather conditions, very hot summers and very cold winters, therefore manual ventilation and air conditioning is required !
In Kenya, we mainly have the covered courts using either PVC canopies, iron sheets, or the partly shaded outdoor courts. While outdoor In Kenya, we mainly have the covered courts using either PVC canopies, iron sheets, or the partly shaded outdoor courts. While outdoor uncovered courts are still popular in Kenya, they suffer from poor occupancy during the hotter months as well rainy seasons of our tropical climate.
As one of the leading and oldest padel court supply and installers in Kenya, we have built over 25 padel courts in commercial padel clubs, international schools, 5 star hotels, private homes all across the country from Nairobi, Mombasa, Nanyuki and counting. We stock padel courts locally in Nairobi, as well as a wide variety of spare parts including spare glasses, centre nets, accessories, turfs and more. Get in touch with us to discuss your padel court construction needs in Kenya.
Conclusion:
While looking for a padel court, it might seem confusing at the start on which supplier or what type of court to go for, more affordable online options might seem attractive for budget conscious customers. However many times cheap can be expensive on projects of this nature. Get in touch with us on the below to provide you with quotations for different types of padel courts, installations and roofings. We have executed over 20 padel courts in Kenya and offer technical and after sales support including locally available stocks and spares.
Reach out to us on the email info@playonpadel.co.ke
