How UK padel made amateur sports shareable

Neil Percival is the COO and co-founder of UK Padel. His organisation runs the largest padel competition ecosystem in the country, plus a growing network of clubs. In June 2026 the LTA announced a strategic partnership around the Padel County Cup.

Neil joins Ed on The Attention Shift to break down how UK Padel became the country's largest padel tournament operator, why community engagement beats participation as a growth strategy, why 10,000 people watched a county championships live stream, and why the gap between grassroots and the professional game might be the sport's biggest challenge.

To listen to every episode of The Attention Shift, head to ⁠dizplai.com⁠. Got a question for us, or want to join us as a guest? Email ⁠hello@attentionshift.media⁠.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro and UK Padel's dual model (clubs plus competitions)

04:44 The LTA partnership around the Padel County Cup

07:20 1 million played, 9 million want to

11:32 Building community through content, not vanity metrics

13:43 PUSH IT and the on-court experience

19:30 The grassroots-to-pro gap and the paywall problem

24:40 Nothing But Padel and what comes next

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.