Decision made on Harrogate sports club terrace extensionDecision made on new padel courts in HarrogatePlans for new padel tennis courts in Harrogate withdrawnHarrogate padel tennis scheme recommended for approvalWhat makes Harrogate a padel hotspot?Harrogate squash captain eyes first title in 25 years

Harrogate-born Declan Christie is ranked among the highest non-professionals in the world at squash — but he still wants to achieve more.

The 31-year-old estimates he plays the sport, which will be added to the Olympic programme in 2028, at least three hours a day.

He pits himself against professional players every week and also has the chance to get into the top eight of the British rankings in padel tennis.

But, as captain of Harrogate’s premier squash team, he has his eyes on more.

Picking up a racquet

The club has not won the league in 25 years. Declan wants to rectify that.

By his own admission, Declan does not come from a sporting family.

His dad would take him to his local tennis club as a child and he became addicted to racquet sports.

But, it was squash which got him hooked in.

“I used to play tennis originally, I started playing when I was about seven. I played for about three years.

“I used to get dropped off at the squash and tennis club and I would be there all day. After my tennis lessons had finished, I’d go inside and play squash.

“Squash is a much faster sport and that’s what got me hooked.”

Declan playing in a squash match.

Declan playing in a squash match.

Declan entered local tournaments and went on to represent Yorkshire at under-13s.

The intensity of the sport and the glory that comes with it being a single player contest is addictive to Declan

“Squash is often described as boxing with rackets. It’s physically demanding.

“It’s between boxing and chess. You’ve got to think a few moves ahead.”

‘No other sport like squash’

Despite his commitment to the sport, Declan does not play it professionally.

Instead, he has ran his own business, Luxury Flooring, since he was 17.

“I’m a business owner. There’s not a lot of money in squash, so I chose not to go down that route.”

Owning his own business was a foundation for him to be able to pursue squash, he says.

Sport took a back seat while Declan was building his company.

“I was working like 18 hours a day building that up. I didn’t really have much time for sport.

“I played a little bit here and there, but not like I do now.”

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These days, Declan has handed over the reigns of his firm to a management company.

It means he has been able to commit more time to squash and padel tennis and his pursuit of building up his ranking.

He estimates that he plays sport around three hours a day, in particular squash.

“I love squash. No other sport that I have played comes close to squash. I have played a lot of tennis and padel.

“But the feeling of winning a squash match when there is just two people on the court, there is no feeling like that.”

Aiming for the title

Declan already has a league championship under his belt from his time at Chapel Allerton in Leeds.

Sat inside Harrogate Sport and Fitness Centre, where Harrogate play their home games, he explains that the club has been without a title for 25 years.

The league will take Declan and his side across the county to Pontefract, Hull and Doncaster, where they will be pitted against professional and high ranked players from across the world.

At Harrogate, Declan has top 100 ranked Stuart MacGregor as his teammate as well as players who play for Yorkshire.

For Declan, he feels this year the team has a good chance to end that period.

He became captain after the club asked him to lead the side going into the season.

“The club asked me and I’m quite ambitious with it. 

“We want to win the league and that’s what I want to do. It’s about putting a team together that can do that.

“I’ve won the league with another club in Chapel Allerton. This club hasn’t won the league in about 25 years, but we feel this year we’ve got a really good chance of winning it.”

Declan counts the Hungarian open, Swiss open and Italian open as among his achievements in squash.

In the future, he also has ambitions to play for his country in the senior team and represent Great Britain at padel tennis.

But, this year, winning the title at Harrogate is the ultimate goal.

“I know what to do to win this league, so I’m pretty confident that we can win it.”

If you have any local sporting heroes who you think should be featured in Sporting Spotlight, contact calvin@thestrayferret.co.uk.

International squash tournament to be held in Harrogate

An international squash tournament featuring many of the world’s top players is set to come to Harrogate.

The Harrogate Squash Open 2022 tournament will be held at Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre, Hookstone Wood Road, on December 8.

It forms part of the PSA World Tour and Challenge Tour, which sees competitions held across the world.

The tournament will see an array of international squash players come to the town to compete, including top ranked New Zealand brothers Lwamba and Temwa Chileshe.

Local player Josh Rowley will also compete as a wildcard.

The event is free to attend and the final will be held on December 11.

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Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre, which had to pay about £5,000 to host the event, is a hub for squash, attracting many top players and coaches, including former world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist James Willstrop.

The club has increased membership from fewer than 300 to more than 1,000 in recent years, helped by the new padel tennis courts.

James Gaston, general manager of the club, said:

“We’ve been growing for the last five or six years and are trying to reach out to people and show we are a hotbed for squash.”

For more information on the tournament, visit the PSA World Tour website here.

Harrogate squash club strongly represented at Commonwealth Games

Diver Jack Laugher may be the biggest name in the Harrogate district at the Commonwealth Games but the area will also be strongly represented at another sport.

Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre at Hookstone Wood Road has played a major role in developing international talent at squash.

James Willstrop, who lives in Harrogate, will be defending the gold medal he won at the last Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2018.

Harrogate’s David Pearson is coaching Scotland and Aidan Harrison, who turned professional at the age of 16 while based in Harrogate, is coaching Barbados.

Speaking to the Stray Ferret shortly before today’s opening ceremony in Birmingham, Mr Harrison said the Harrogate club had a worldwide reputation for producing talent thanks largely to Mr Pearson:

“A lot of people here in Birmingham have Harrogate connections.

“Harrogate has had a great reputation as a club since the 1980s and 1990s with many people going there to be around David Pearson and to seek his advice.”

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Mr Harrison, who attended St John Fisher Catholic High School in Harrogate, captained England to the world junior championships in 1990 and broke into the world top 50 as a senior before retiring at the age of 23.

He moved to Dallas in America in 1991 to pursue a career in coaching, which has included a stint as head coach of the American women’s junior team. He was named USA Olympic Squash Coach of the Year in 2002.

Aidan Harrison

Aidan Harrison coaching the Barbados players.

Three months ago he was appointed to help the five-member Barbados team in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games, which is the sport’s premier event.

Mr Harrison said New Zealand, England, Australia, India, Wales, Scotland and Malaysia were the top squash countries at the games but Barbados had the chance of a medal in mixed doubles. He said:

“These players that we are coming up against are top 10 in the world and I would love for our players to make a statement and show that they have what it takes to medal at such a major event.”

Mr Harrison’s parents and sister still live in the Harrogate and Knaresborough area.

He last visited in Harrogate in 2019 but has no plans to return full-time. At the end of August he will be moving to New York to start a new coaching role at Westchester Country Club.

Up to 1,000 runners set for Sunday’s Harrogate 10k

Up to 1,000 people are set to take part in the Run Harrogate 10k this weekend.

The annual race, which goes around Crimple Valley, is Harrogate Harriers‘ premier event of the year.

It starts at Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre on Hookstone Wood Road at 10am on Sunday and finishes at the same place.

Harrogate 10k

This year’s event, which is sponsored by Knaresborough renewable energy firm Harmony Energy, includes a new kids’ fun run, starting at 9am.

The fun run has a 1.3km run for children in years two to five at school and a 2.6km run for children in years six to nine.

Rudding Lane will be closed from about 9.30am to 11am while the race takes place.

The multi-terrain route is about 70 per cent tarmac road, with the remainder on good footpaths.

The men’s race record is 33 minutes and 29 seconds, set by Marcos Palacios. The women’s record is 42 minutes and 32 seconds, set by local athlete Tam Calder, who has entered this year.

Marcos Palacios

Marcos Palacios

Tam Calder

Tam Calder

About 550 people have entered so far. The race capacity is 1,000 so you can enter on the day.

Sue Moul, membership secretary at Harrogate Harriers, said:

“It’s our premier event and we are looking forward to welcoming everybody back to the course.”

All finishers receive a medal and goody bag and there is a £1,500 prize fund.

Entry fee for runners who aren’t affiliated to Harrogate Harriers is £19 if paid in advance.

The kids’ race costs £3 to enter and all proceeds are donated to CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably.

A donation from the adult races will go to Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Further details are available here.

 

The sport ‘anyone can play’ that has exploded across the Harrogate district

A mashup of tennis and squash that originated in Mexico, padel has been described as one of the world’s fastest growing sports.

It is played between four players on reduced-size tennis courts. Competitors use paddle racquets and can bounce the ball off walls.

Since November 2020, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has been the national governing body for the sport when it was officially recognised as a discipline of tennis. This has opened the door for greater recognition, support and funding.

Admittedly, I had never even heard it until around a year ago and since then, it seems to have exploded across the Harrogate district.

Ahead of the curve

Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre, on Hookstone Wood Road, was ahead of the curve, launching its first outdoor padel court in 2019, followed by a second glass-enclosed court in 2021 due to popular demand.

The only courts of their kind in the region, they saw people travel from Hull, Liverpool and Manchester to play.

 Padel tennis at Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre.

The club’s manager James Gaston said:

“It has grown in popularity very quickly and we have approximately 250 padel players.

“It is popular because it is very easy to play compared to tennis and it is great fun as doubles and close together on the court.

“It’s a great game and everyone should try it.”

James Gaston outside Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre.

Then in January Surge Padel, the largest indoor padel tennis centre in the UK with six courts, opened its doors at Hornbeam Park. The International Padel Federation is already considering it as the potential host of its European Championships.

Plans for eight new centres

CEO Stuart Perrin said it had already proved to be so successful in Harrogate, he was now planning to launch minimum of eight additional centres in the UK this year.

One of the padel courts at Surge.

Speaking about why he chose Harrogate to locate his first padel centre, he said:

“There are two reasons really.

“Firstly, I’m a local resident and know the local health and fitness market well. Operating in the town with success previously meant I had a path once trodden that could be replicated and improved on.

“Secondly, the demographics of Harrogate really lend themselves to those of racket sports, giving us a head start on the education piece, with padel being a relatively new sport to the UK.

“It has exceeded all expectations so far with no signs of stopping any time soon.”

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Mr Perrin said the club currently had more than 820 members, with half of those using it on a weekly basis.

He added:

“We anticipate this number to grow to north of 1,000 members by the end of June.

“I think it has been so popular as we have delivered the UK’s largest premium indoor padel tennis centre and we are unaffected by the weather.

“Being underpinned by a brand like Coach and associated with Adidas has also cemented us as the market leader within the sector very quickly.”

Surge at Hornbeam Park is the largest indoor padel tennis court in the UK.

Next month, two new padel tennis courts will launch at Ripon Tennis Centre following a successful crowdfunding campaign, which saw more than £30,500 raised in 28 days thanks to the support of residents and businesses.

Membership boost

The project was put forward to help boost the club’s membership in the wake of the pandemic and will see the new courts, plus canopies and flood lighting, built at the centre on Park Lane.

Additional funding has also been provided by Sport England alongside a loan from the LTA.

Carol Tetlow, the club’s honorary secretary, said:

“It’s all very exciting and we can’t wait to get playing.

“Fingers crossed, our courts should be up and ready for play by the end of April. There will be two courts, one with a roof, guaranteeing all year round play.

“Covid-19 took its toll on Ripon tennis club, like many other sporting venues, and we saw membership numbers drop by a fifth and also lost a lot of income.

“Our centre manager, Diane Hutchinson came up with the great idea of not simply trying to recoup our losses but seize this opportunity to expand the centre with a new venture – padel tennis.”

Ripon MP Julian Smith visiting the padel site at Ripon Tennis Centre, with Diane Hutchinson (left) and Carol Tetlow (right).

Ms Tetlow put the sport’s rapid growth and popularity down to it being easy to play and therefore accessible for all ages and abilities.

A game for everyone

She said:

“Even beginners can go on court and enjoy a game, unlike some sports where techniques have to be acquired and learned.

“The less mobile players who find it difficult to get around a tennis court can have challenging games.

“At the other end of the scale, highly experienced players can amaze spectators with their agility and skill.”

Ms Tatlow said the club had recently taken on a new coach, Christopher Stanford, who will coach padel, as well as tennis.

She added:

“We’ve had lots of enquiries as the word has spread and as a result of our crowdfunding campaign. Membership is growing again and I’m sure padel is one of the reasons for this.

“With the nearest courts in Harrogate and Middlesbrough, Ripon has to be the ideal place for more courts.”

‘Really social’

Stuart Jones, from Harrogate, has been playing padel for two years after picking up the sport while on holiday in Spain, which has more than 20,000 padel courts. Behind football it is the country’s second-most-popular sport.

He said:

“I really enjoy the competitive nature of the game, the fact it’s doubles and really social.

“I started to play at the courts at Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre and now also play at Surge, where they also have coaching for adults, as well as juniors, which is perfect for me as my eldest son also enjoys the game.”

Here are ten facts you might not know about padel tennis, from the LTA: