Padel players picked up their racquets en masse in a marathon attempt to help make a difference to a little Hull boy living with a rare form of cancer. A total of 72 players competed in a tournament that lasted six hours, at Court De Padel, off National Avenue.
It was organised by business partners Rachel Parker and Luke Bottomley, of James Ray Recruitment, to support Charlie Shilleto, three, and his family. Charlie received the devastating diagnosis of stage four metastatic embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and very aggressive soft tissue cancer, last December.
The youngster is facing treatment described previously by his mum Louisa as “brutal” and rhabdomyosarcoma has a high relapse rate. Both Louisa and Charlie’s dad, Lee, who previously both worked full-time, are juggling their lives around Charlie’s treatment and care; they also have an older son, Oliver.
Rachel is friends with the family, who aim to raise awareness of rhabdomyosarcoma and to make memories with the boys. She and Luke decided on the padel tournament, which she said was the “biggest open padel event to take place in Hull”.
Rachel said: “There were 72 players taking part in the games themselves and we had more people who came to watch. There were three sessions over the six hours – the first was for corporate teams, the second was education and the last was open for anyone who fancied it – and the format was a Mexicana, where you swap partners all day.
“The coach who was recording all the scores said there were 864 matches.” A mix of ages and abilities joined in the sponsored tournament and, with the proceeds of a raffle that is still ongoing this weekend, Rachel said she hoped the sum raised would top the £5,000 mark.
“We set this going in August and started contacting people. We’re really pleased with how it went – and that everyone turned up.
“The feedback was great and they were saying, when’s the next one? They loved it. Court De Padel gave us a racquet that they said the highest points scorer on the day could have.
“Charlie’s dad played in the last session – his first time playing padel – and Charlie was able to come to that session, which we were so pleased about. He got a bad infection last week and they were able to bring him in between his eight-hour intravenous antibiotics, before he had to go back to hospital.
“The family are hoping to go to Disneyland Paris at Christmas and the money we raised will be going towards that.”