Padel is a fast growing sport, involving more and more sportsmen and women of all levels and ages. Artificial turf padel courts are springing up all over the world although the current pandemic crisis has forced sports facilities to implement special measures for the prevention and containment of the spread of Covid-19.
However, padel is not considered a contact sport and in many countries facilities have not been closed, especially since there are only a limited number of players on the court.
The safety of sports facilities must, however, be guaranteed by proper cleaning and sanitization of the changing rooms, passage ways, equipment and court.
For artificial turf padel courts, constant sanitization of the structure goes hand in hand with constant, correct maintenance of the artificial turf.
The maintenance of an artificial turf padel court is vital to safeguarding over time the technical characteristics of the systems and guaranteeing the highest quality of play.
By correctly scheduling maintenance work, you can protect an artificial turf court from interaction caused by play and elements unrelated to sports activities. On outdoor padel courts, for example, you must also pay attention to the effects of weather and pollution; however, there are other factors that can ruin an outdoor artificial turf padel court such as: the resin from trees near the facility, the presence of areas that are exposed to the sun or shade, poor irrigation or drainage faults.
For this reason, it is important to schedule periodic inspections of the court and routine and extraordinary maintenance work as well as preventive and corrective maintenance.
The routine maintenance of padel courts can be carried out by the court owner or manager by focusing on cleaning the court, properly maintaining the filler (sand) and removing any weeds if the court is installed outdoors.
The most frequent cleaning tasks involve removing litter left by players and spectators who use the sports facilities.
The surface of the padel court and transit areas must be constantly cleaned to prevent cigarette butts, pieces of paper, leaves and seeds or scraps of food and leftover drink from being deposited there.
To remove small pieces of debris, you can work manually simply using a broom with nylon bristles or a blower and making sure you do not disperse the sand infill.
Flowers, leaves, seeds or other organic residue must be removed to prevent them from decomposing and forming fungi or mould on the surface: to do this, we recommend using a soft brush or rake with plastic, rubber or nylon bristles or teeth.
Rain is the best way to clean the artificial turf fibres - it gently cleans and refreshes the fibres by removing dust, soot and air pollutants and keeping the court drainage systems clean.
In indoor installations, we recommend substituting the rain’s action by wetting the artificial turf court once a monthly with water using a simple diffuser. The impurities on the fibres will be removed and this will help to stabilize the surface by lightly compacting the sand filler.
The most common maintenance task performed on the sand filler of artificial turf padel courts is the periodic brushing of the surface which correctly redistributes the sand which is moved as the players move around.
To redistribute it correctly, use a broom or a rotating brush with soft nylon bristles. This will redistribute the filler regularly and uniformly so that the ball bounces more evenly and prevent injury to players’ ligaments when twisting, accelerating and changing direction.
It is also important to periodically check the quantity of filler because you may need to add sand.
Sand can be an excellent medium for the germination of weed seeds carried by the wind or birds: this is why it is just as important to remove weeds regularly using corrective treatment for wild grasses and moss or an anti-germination product, if necessary.
To carry out extraordinary maintenance, you must contact a company specialized in the maintenance of padel courts. The work must be carried out by qualified technical personnel, following the instructions in the product manual and using special equipment.
Extraordinary maintenance work must be carried out every six months or once a year depending on the needs of the synthetic surface.
In particular, the following tasks must be scheduled:
Regular, careful maintenance combined with periodic inspections and preventive, timely interventions guarantee players’ safety, the quality of play and the duration of the padel court.
Do you want to replace the artificial turf on your padel court? Discover the range of artificial turf surfaces for padel courts offered by MONDO, the Official Supplier for the World Padel Tour.