The plan is to invest in both tennis and paddle at the high school level starting in the autumn of 2022.
- We intend to follow the development around the paddle boom and then tennis hooks on, says Nick Carlsson, sports director at Njudungsgymnasiet.
He says that interest in racket sports in general has grown in the catchment area where paddle, but also tennis and pickleball have gained more practitioners.
- Then we make a restart of tennis at the same time as we invest in paddles that will be completely new to us.
Twelve places
In total, the sports high school in Vetlanda has 160 students divided into seven different sports.
During the autumn, the interest in the new-old specialization tennis / paddle will be investigated and if the data is sufficient, there will be an education with about 12 places at the start of school in 2022.
- I am hopeful, says Nick Carlsson.
But isn't there a risk that the paddle will compete with tennis?
- We shall see.
I think it's fun that there are opportunities for young people to pursue sports and studies at a good level.