Community Spotlight:
The Padel Fam
- Published: 10 June, 2026
- UK
- Community
- 6-min read
Twenty years in the making
Fittingly, the story starts on family holidays at La Manga Club in Spain, more than twenty years ago – long before most people in the UK had even heard of padel. Tennis was the first sport: siblings Mike and Kelly-Jayne both reached national level, earned Division 1 scholarships to High Point University in North Carolina, and represented Great Britain together at the 2009 European Championships in Portugal.
In recent years, padel has come full circle for them. The progression, the energy, the social side has kept them engaged. Tennis has slipped to the background, as the family has thrown itself fully into the UK padel scene, playing, competing, and slowly building something bigger.
"The Padel Fam now spans three generations. It starts with siblings Mike and Kelly-Jayne, Mike is currently ranked 6 in the UK open age group (not bad at 42!) and Kelly-Jayne is ranked 53. Mike’s wife, Caroline Tolman, is also ranked at 47 and partners with Kelly with them taking gold at the most recent grade 3 event in Leeds."
Fun, family, and the love of the sport
The motivation is straightforward. Padel is social, fast-growing, and rare in that it lends itself to genuine cross-generational competition – something the family doesn’t take for granted.
“At the heart of it, we’re just a family who loves playing sport together,” they explain. “Not many people get the chance to compete across generations, so that’s something really special to us.”
Competition matters, but it isn’t everything to them. The point is enjoying the process, supporting each other on and off the court, and showing that padel works for everyone – whether the goal is rankings or simply picking up a racket for fun.
A roster that spans three generations
You’ll quickly understand why they’re named “The Padel Fam”: Mike, 42, is ranked 6th in the UK open age group, his sister Kelly-Jayne sits at 53rd, and Mike’s wife Caroline Tolman is ranked 47th – with Kelly-Jayne and Caroline recently partnering to take gold at a Grade 3 event in Leeds.
The rivalry runs through captaincies too. Kelly’s husband Phil Whalley captains Lancashire’s men’s open and over-40s sides, while Mike holds the same role for Yorkshire. The War of the Roses, they admit, is very real at county champs.
At the top of the tree, parents Sue and Dave still compete regularly for Lancashire in the over-60s. Dave also helped build one of the UK’s first padel courts in Huddersfield back in 2011, putting him among the sport’s earliest UK advocates. And at the other end, Mike and Caroline’s eleven-year-old son Harry is currently ranked number one in the UK under-12 category.
"At the heart of it, we’re just a family who loves playing sport together. Not many people get the chance to compete across generations, so that’s something really special to us. We don’t take it too seriously -we’re still competitive, of course - but it’s more about enjoying the process and seeing where it takes us."
What’s next
Mike’s recent move into the UK top 10 has set the tone for the year ahead, and he’s pushing to see how far he can take it. The family will keep competing in tournaments where time allows, and with all the adults now qualified as coaches, the next chapter involves more time spent developing other players too.
There are also bigger projects in the pipeline. The first has already launched – Optimum Padel in Leeds – marking the family’s shift from playing the sport to actively growing it. Watching the next generation, Harry, Isla, Darcey, and Jackson, take an interest is the most rewarding part of all, they told us.
We wish them all the best and encourage you to follow along on their Instagram and YouTube.
Written by Jamie Rowe
World Padel Network
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