MAJOR SPORT BRINGS MAJOR DEVELOPMENT TO SOUTH AFRICA
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A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master will fund a padel court for the Lavender Hill CARES complex and sponsor a development programme
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The disruptive sport is accessible to all and built around community
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The court signing takes place on Sunday, 19 February ahead of the final pro match
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(Cape Town, 9 February 2023): Ahead of the much-anticipated international A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master taking place in a few days, A1Padel is pleased to announce that it has invested more than R1 million towards a padel court and development programme for the Lavender Hill community at the Lavender Hill CARES complex.
The signing of the contract between A1Padel Cape Town and CARES for the padel court will take place on the morning of Sunday, 19 February ahead of the final match of the tournament. In addition to a world-class padel court, A1Padel will also sponsor a pro bono training padel programme to engage the Lavender Hill community. The training programme is the first of its kind, placing South Africa as the first place to offer padel accreditation and world-class training.
In endorsing the partnership, CEO of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation (DLTLF) Janet Jobson, notes: “Sport has long been used as a social development tool to engage young people and contribute to women’s empowerment, gender equality and community building. The accessibility, simplicity and fun of padel make it the ideal entryway sport for youth of all ages. The Arch would be proud to see a new wave of participants drawn from all our communities, coming together across society’s divides, to play together”.
“It is an honour to kick off the training programme with CARES, with the aim of identifying future local talent for one or more teams to participate in the professional A1Padel tour,” adds Philippe Kjellgren, A1 Padel CapeTown Master tournament promoter.
The CARES organisation, which includes six complexes (Lavender Hill, Kuilsriver, Mitchells Plain, George, Malmesbury and Beaufort West), focuses on the holistic development of young people and its staff to create environments where recreation and sport, art and culture, and education can flourish and contribute to nation-building and socio-economic development.
Jana Hattingh, Western Cape CARES Chairperson, says: “A1Padel’s funding and sponsorship of a padel court and padel training programming feeds directly into CARES’ mission to promote mass participation, activity specialisation and intersectoral collaboration, networks and partnerships. We look forward to welcoming participants to the padel programme and cannot wait to embark on this journey with A1Padel”.
The official handover between A1Padel Cape Town and CARES will take place on Sunday, 19 February at 9 am at the Lavender Hill CARES complex, with special guests Ike S. Franco of the New York Yankees, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and Fabrice Pastor, CEO of Monte Carlo International Sports, which owns the A1Padel international tour. The A1Padel tour recently welcomed Ike S. Franco as a shareholder of the international tour, a partnership that is committed to growing the sport locally.
About the A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master
The A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master will open with a festival party at the A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master Heineken Festival area on Saturday, 11 February from 4 pm to 10 pm, priced at R200 per person. The festival area will also be open throughout the tournament, where fans and spectators can view the exhibition and practice games and enjoy live music, food trucks, giveaways, opportunities to meet and interact with the players, and shop at a retail area offering exclusive padel-related wares. The festival area will also be home to a dedicated play space for kids, open from Sunday, 12 February. Festival tickets will be available throughout the tournament at R100 while grandstand tickets, which include access to the festival area, are R150 per person.
For those wanting to be front and centre for all the action, a limited number of VIP tickets will be available at R1,000 per session (for weekdays) and include VIP box seats, access to the festival and the Discovery Bank Players Lounge presented by Discovery Bank, and full hospitality with food and beverages.
Tickets for the event can be purchased at ticketmaster.co.za.
The A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master, proudly supported by PaySpace, takes place at Camps Bay Sports Ground, Camps Bay, from Saturday, 11 February through Sunday, 19 February. The event is further supported by Heineken, KFM, MTV, Travelstart, Lift, Playtomic, Babolat and Village & Life, with Discovery Bank as presenting sponsor and Distell as pouring sponsor. The event will also be broadcast live on SuperSport and ESPN in South America. For more information on the tournament, please visit a1padelglobal.com.
