Jason Manford brings his padel academy to Berkshire

Padel fanatic Jason Manford has paid a visit to a Berkshire padel centre in a bid to encourage schoolchildren to take up the growing sport.

The comedian was at an indoor court in Reading on Friday to demonstrate the hybrid of tennis and squash he said he became passionate about after discovering the sport on holiday in Portugal.

The 44-year-old set up his own padel academy in 2025, with the aim of introducing one million children to the game over the next 10 years.

He joked on Friday that the 11, 12 and 13-year-olds playing at The Padel Hub in Reading were initially "just happy that they were missing maths" but had started to learn the basics of the racquet sport.

The game was invented in Mexico in 1969 and there are thought to be tens of millions of players around the world.

"They say it's the fastest growing sport in the world," said Manford. "They're talking about the Olympics in eight years' time and that's what's exciting today.

"The dream really, for me, is that in eight years' time someone is in Team GB and the first time they played padel was at one of these sessions."

Manford has worked as an ambassador for the Lawn Tennis Association and set up the JM Padel Academy to make the sport more accessible to children from all backgrounds.

"I love padel. I'm a big fan of tennis, I've played it all my life and I discovered [padel] in Portugal about three years ago," he said.

"I got back and they were setting up [padel] courts all over the place but what I found was that it was expensive. [Courts] were privately owned and they're expensive.

"My worry was that it could become an elitist sport, a sport that not everybody has got access to and that is not a sport that I want to be involved in. That's why we set up the padel academy."