#rico-maza — Public Fediverse posts

SWANSEA: How padel went from two courts to a national series in three years

Three years ago padel in Swansea meant two outdoor courts beside a football pitch. This weekend Swansea hosts the opening event of a national series, with players from their twenties to their sixties competing in Llansamlet.

The UK Padel Masters Series opens at Jaxx Padel on Saturday and Sunday, the first of five events the organiser says will take it to venues in Wales, England, Scotland and Portugal before the finals in March. Men’s and women’s draws run in four age groups, Open, Over 40, Over 50 and Over 60, with an Over 70 category hoped for at later events.

Jaxx, on the old Press Glass site at Mill Stream Way in Llansamlet, has nine indoor courts and four outside, is open 6am to 11pm, and calls itself Wales’ largest indoor padel centre. It belongs to Swansea.com, the group behind Pure Swansea.

The group says it put the city’s first two courts in at the Pure Swansea ground in 2023 and added three more in July last year “due to demand”. By its own count that makes 18 courts across the two sites.

‘They don’t seem to be going away’

Padel is tennis crossed with squash: a court a third the size of a tennis court, walled in glass and mesh so the ball stays in play off the back, and a solid racket with no strings. It was invented in Acapulco in 1969 and reached Britain slowly, with about 15,000 players in 2019.

The Lawn Tennis Association counted around 860,000 last year. It now puts the number at more than 1.4 million, on 2,353 courts, and says 6,664 people have entered its competitions so far this year against 5,000 in the whole of 2025.

Swansea Council‘s tourism manager Steve Hopkins put it more plainly to councillors in April. When padel courts turned up in the council’s study of the bay foreshore, he said: “Dare I say it, padel courts, they don’t seem to be going away.”

Six at Parc Tawe, three in Mumbles, two in Neath

Pure Padel Clubs wants six indoor courts in the Ninja Warrior unit at Parc Tawe. Its application says its courts elsewhere are busy more than 90 per cent of the time, and that it struggled to find anywhere else in Swansea big enough.

Ninja Warrior’s owner, Burhill Group, says no final decision has been made and the centre is trading as normal.

Mumbles is next. The council has applied to build three courts on the old seafront tennis courts between the Oyster House and the bowling green, after a consultation in which it says most people asked for racquet sports, and padel most of all.

“Padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the UK and is attracting people of all ages because it’s fun, social and easy to learn,” cabinet member Cllr Andrew Stevens said.

Businessman Rico Maza has offered £400,000 of his own money to build and run four courts on the site himself in return for a long lease. Mumbles Action Group’s alternative keeps the courts too, and swaps the car park for a lido.

Across the border, Neath Sports Centre is in line for two courts on its unused tennis courts by spring 2027, the first in Neath Port Talbot. The council’s foreshore study wants courts beside the Singleton boating lake as well.

‘Still competing decades later’

Nick Baker, chief executive of UK Padel, said: “Padel is wonderfully accessible and sociable, it also brings out a competitive spirit in people of all ages. You can pick up a racket for the first time, discover a love of the game and still be competing decades later.”

He added: “This weekend captures everything that makes the sport so special, with schoolchildren representing their schools in Bristol while players in their sixties are competing alongside younger generations at our Masters Series in Swansea.”

UK Padel says women made up half the field at last season’s Masters finals, and more than 220 players entered last month’s Over 60 Padel County Cup. On Sunday its Schools Under-18 Championships return to Rocket Padel Bristol with more than 25 schools, after 132 players took part last year.

Matches from Swansea will be streamed on UK Padel’s YouTube channel through the weekend, with the Bristol results to follow.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

MUMBLES: Padel courts to replace the old seafront tennis courts, and the car park is coming back
The council’s own application, announced last week.

MUMBLES: Businessman’s alternative padel plan would use £400,000 of his own money
Rico Maza’s offer to build and run the seafront courts himself.

PARC TAWE: Ninja Warrior venue could be replaced by six padel courts under new plans
Pure Padel’s application for the retail park unit.

PADEL AND PILATES: £3.3m for Neath Port Talbot’s gyms
Neath’s two courts, due by spring 2027.

Padel coverage from Swansea Bay News
Every court, plan and application across the region.

MUMBLES: Businessman’s alternative padel plan would use £400,000 of his own money, so the council doesn’t have to

A businessman with family in Mumbles has offered to spend £400,000 of his own money turning the old seafront tennis courts into four padel courts.

Rico Maza wants a long lease on the site in return, with Swansea Council keeping the land and collecting the rent.

It is an alternative to the council’s own plans for three courts and a car park on Mumbles Gardens, the site between the Oyster House and Oystermouth Bowls Club.

Mumbles Action Group set out a rival vision on Saturday, with a lido and games court instead of the car park.

Mr Maza says he has written to the council and local councillors. “I’ve not heard anything back from the council or councillors,” he said.

£400,000 padel offer: four floodlit courts and pay-and-play

He would build four enclosed glass and mesh courts to Lawn Tennis Association standards, floodlit for evening games, with online booking and pay-and-play.

There would be coaching, leagues and junior sessions, he says, and cheaper off-peak rates for local residents.

The £400,000 would pay for the courts, glass, lighting, surfacing and installation. Maintenance, insurance and the day-to-day running would be his responsibility for the length of the lease.

Under his offer, he says, the council “keeps ownership of the land, receives a rental income, and has no capital outlay or ongoing maintenance and operating responsibilities”.

Only a few parking spaces would be needed, he says.

Tree planting to screen Mumbles Road neighbours from noise and light

Mr Maza accepts the courts are close to homes. Roadside trees and landscaping would screen sound and light, he says, and the floodlights would be angled to limit light spill.

Who is Rico Maza?

He says he has spent many years running council sports facilities and park catering sites around London and Essex.

He is moving to Mumbles, where his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter live. His daughter-in-law’s family “have lived there all their lives”, he said.

A Lawn Tennis Association member and a club tennis player “for a lifetime”, he is new to padel himself. “I’m new to paddle tennis, but the excitement it brings is unmatched,” he said.

He would bring in “one or two of the best paddle coaches available”, teaching everyone from “complete beginners like myself” to players who want to compete at a higher level.

Getting the coaching right from day one matters, he said: “Building a high-quality coaching program from the outset would help establish the facility as a genuine centre for developing the sport.”

‘I would also be interested in running the paddle tennis facility for the council’

If the council presses on with its own three courts, Mr Maza says he would like to run them.

He thinks it would save the council money in the long run. “In my opinion the council work with the best intentions, but the cost of delivering and operating projects can sometimes increase considerably over time,” he said.

He accepts the council “has its own plans in motion”, and says he would welcome a meeting with its property, regeneration and leisure teams.

The council’s plan: three courts and the car park back

The council’s own application has no cost, no opening date and no word yet on who would run the courts or what a game would cost.

It asked Mumbles in January last year what should replace the tennis courts, and says padel was the sport most people named.

Cllr Andrew Stevens, cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, said the plans showed “we have listened carefully to what our communities want”.

Some residents commenting online have questioned giving part of the site over to parking, while others welcomed padel as a sport that is easier to pick up than tennis.

Leasing out tennis courts would not be new for the council. Last year it offered three under-used courts at Langland for redevelopment on a long lease.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

MUMBLES: Campaign group’s alternative plan for the old tennis courts swaps the car park for a lido
Mumbles Action Group’s rival vision for the site.

MUMBLES: Padel courts to replace the old seafront tennis courts, and the car park is coming back
The council’s own plan for three courts and a car park.

Langland Bay tennis court site may be redeveloped to include new leisure facilities
The council’s offer of three Langland courts on a long lease.

More Mumbles news