Sport

Padel phenomenon: Learning the sport that has taken the military by storm

3rd July 2026 at 9:08am

Padel has become a very popular sport in the military

Plans are already in place for the first-ever UK Armed Forces Padel inter services to be held at the end of this year.

The rapid rise in popularity of the sport in the civilian world has been mirrored in the armed forces.

Its fast paced, dynamic but strategic style means it's a great social game for all ages and all skill levels.

Flight Lieutenant Ben Hanley, who is the lead of UK Armed Forces Padel, had no racket sport history before he learnt to play the game out in Madrid, where he is currently based.

"That kind of was an advantage because I learnt how to play Padel, whereas a lot of people who play tennis have tennis habits. You do have an advantage at the start but if you have someone that's learnt Padel versus learnt tennis, they know how to counteract a tennis player on the court."

Ben was speaking to BFBS Sport at the inaugural RAF Padel championships, but he is spearheading the Padel mission across all three services.

"The main vision is to have courts and club on bases so you can get anything from 'Padel and prams', where people can come and have a little soft play next door, or 'Padel and pilates' I've seen.

"Just to build a new community of a sport that's very accessible to play, fun, social. That's the dream."

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To do this, Ben and his team have outsourced the building of these community centres to external companies.

"So the difficulty with Padel, as a sport, is the infrastructure that's needed. We've got an external company to come in and build the courts and the clubs.

"The Army are looking at a club at Aldershot, the RAF just had a club approved at RAF Odiham with a company called Mission Padel. Their vision is the same thing, it's community first, courts, but then a social area, wellness and everything too.

"It's good for the military because it's zero cost to defence and its gets people out and playing a new sport. So hopefully it'll be very successful."

The Army held their single service Padel championships in December 2025 and 50 people turned up to the RAF's first championships held at Padelstars in Southampton last month.

Sergeant Lucy Wilkinson and Sergeant Sheree Wardlow beat Sergeant Lorraine Catherwood and Flight Lieutenant Kira Down 6-3, 6-1 in the women's event, whilst AS1 Marcus Watling and Flt Lt Andy Keeley beat AS1 Mike Greedy and Flight Lieutenant Phil Lawton 7-5, 6-1 in the men's.

Lucy Wilkinson said: "I actually really like the community because you can't always get four players, so occasionally when you've got three players, some random erosion then joins and they become like a regular and you just kind of build your Padel group of friends from there."

Sheree Wardlow's background is in dance and gymnastics so she came to Padel with no history of racket sports.

"I've never put the racket down, I play every day in Madrid, just random games with random people, socialising," she said.

Marcus Watling has been an RAF tennis player for years and only started Padel a few days out from these championships.

He said: "We tend to tag it on to tennis for all for beginners, to give people a taster, and we get maybe 50/60 people that want to play Padel. It's there, people want to play it."

Andy Keeley, who plays and coaches Padel, said: "You come from tennis or squash, or even those who don't play racket sports, just a bit of tie on court with a coach or in a little group session, and it's so much fun."