Why aren't more women getting into padel?
BBCWherever you are, chances are a padel court has sprung up near you in the last year or two.
The racquet sport sits between tennis and squash - sharing a scoring system with tennis - and in 2025 the Lawn Tennis Association called it "one of the fastest growing sports in the UK".
But Padelstars, which runs 15 facilities in England, said there was a huge gender gap, with women making up only 30% of current players.
To combat this it has recently run She Rallies at all of its clubs, which are free, women-only, coach-led sessions to help more women try the sport.
Padelstars coach and regional manager James Andreotti said the gender gap might be down to men "feeling a little bit more comfortable or confident walking in on their own".
"It could be slightly intimidating for a female walking into a heavily-populated male environment," he said.
"We wanted to do more for the women."
Padel, played typically in a doubles format, has seen its popularity boom in recent years.
Its racquets have no strings and players can bounce the ball off the walls.
Padelstars has venues across the South, including Bournemouth, Bracknell, Egham, Guildford, Chichester, Reading and Southampton.
The company said it took issues around gender balance and accessibility so seriously that it was affecting decisions on potential new sites.
This included looking at how long or dark a solo walk to a car park would be in darker months.
The women the BBC spoke to at a session in Bracknell said they had welcomed the idea of being able to play in mixed or all-female teams more often.
One said "getting more women into the game would be fabulous".
Another described the sport as "great fun", a "great way of keeping fit", and "really social".
"It would be great to get more ladies into the game and I think they'd love it once they get into it," she added.
Padelstars said more than 145 women had attended its July sessions.
About half of these were first-time players, and the plan is to run more sessions before the end of the year.
