Bristol hosts first padel tournament for dead and hard of hearing people

Bristol is hosting the first Lawn & Tennis Association approved tournament for deaf and hard of hearing people.

The tournament kicks off at 11:00 at Rocket Padel in St Anne's - the largest indoor centre in England - with around 52 participants from around the country.

Padel - a blend of tennis and squash - is rapidly increasing in popularity in the UK with new padel courts being built and proposed across the country.

"Padel is one of the fastest-growing activities that I have ever seen in my life," said Mark Gill, community development officer at the Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People (CfD).

"It's provided an opportunity for deaf people in the deaf community to be role models and to demonstrate [that] there is a thriving world here, there's a thriving community."

Growing up, Mr Gill said he had always loved sport, but it was not always easy to get involved.

"There was a lot of barriers to communicating with hearing people and that led to a lot of frustrations at school," he said.

He said he would like for coaches to have mandatory deaf awareness training, so that they can adapt their activities to be more inclusive for deaf people.

Mr Cunliffe said that padel has a "great benefit on mental health and fitness."

"There's something about padel. When you play it, you're just in the moment, engrossed," he said.

"I've also noticed some people that weren't necessarily involved in the deaf community now regularly come to padel and I can see how much that benefits them."

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