Theo Walcott announced his retirement from professional football 13 months ago now hes explained to FourFourTwo why hes made a surprise investment in the world of padbol and jorkyball.
The former Arsenal and England winger has put money into a new arena in the Surrey town of Addlestone, which hosts a number of small-sided hybrid football events, with aims of replicating the venue in other places across the country.
Among the hybrid events played at the KickX arena are padbol (a fusion of football, squash and tennis), jorkyball (a blend of football, roller hockey and squash), teqball (a mix of football and table tennis), plus panna (an indoor version of street football). Matches are often played as two versus two on small-sided courts, not dissimilar to a squash court, and are aimed at both children and adults too.
Theo Walcott is bringing back childhood memories
When I first came here, I wanted to find a space for my sons birthday, Walcott told FFT, during his latest visit to the Addlestone venue this week. He loves football, he was turning seven and I felt the energy and the fun that it provided for my son. As well as that, it was what it made me feel like it made me feel like a kid again.
"It brought back memories of my childhood, of just playing for fun. Thats the one thing we go away from at times, just doing things for fun.
Walcott hopes the sports can continue to grow, just as hybrid tennis event padel has grown in recent years, and also help youngsters improve their technique, benefiting them in football, too.
One of my sons favourites is panna, which is one on one, trying to nutmeg players, the 35-year-old said.
You see these players now who have great technique they want to do skills, they want to beat people and beat people again. Thats what panna is about. Padbol is all about your first touch, a bit like padel with your feet. A lot of players use that as a bit of a warm-up for training. Teqball is another one.
It doesnt really matter what level youre at or what age you are, it brings energy and excitement, and thats why I wanted to be part of it.
As a youngster, I used to mark out a grass patch with shoes, playing with bare feet in front of the garden, but there were cars around.
This is a safe environment, the people are friendly, you get to meet new people and theres no pressure, but its also competitive, which is not a bad thing you need a bit of that.
Its a step in the direction of other cultures like Spain and Italy where theyre gifted technicians as players. Its all about the next generation from the grass roots.
Fellow former Arsenal star Katie Chapman won 10 FA Cups and 94 England caps as a player she retired in 2018, but has now taken up padbol and represented the UK at the Padbol World Cup in Brazil at the end of last year.
Going to experience that World Cup in Brazil was unbelievable, the 42-year-old told FFT.
Just seeing different countries at different stages some had been playing for a long time, wed only been playing for months when we went over there, but we learned so much and they were so open and willing to help us, because they want the sport to grow.
When we used to train as footballers, we played head tennis and its a similar concept, but with this you score it as tennis 15, 30, 40, deuce.
Overhead kicks and cartwheels
For me it was exciting learning a different game with different rules and different tactics. Its two versus two and a lot of the people in Brazil were doing things like overhead kicks to get the ball back over the net, like a cartwheel.
Because I played football at such a high level, coming out of the game, I missed it terribly, and finding somewhere where you can play at the same level was really difficult, especially as a female. I played five-a-side with a lot of men who just played for the fun of the game.
With padbol, you can play two versus two and you play at the intensity youre at, and find someone whos at your level to play with.
You can practise your touch and improve your technique the ball spins off the glass, so you have to adapt and move your body shape, which makes you really instinctive. Its really relevant stuff to the skills you need in football.
Vik Sharma is the arenas co-founder and CEO. This is our first arena, our plan is we open more around the country, then we look at the rest of the world after that, he explained.
The idea was to bring something different to football. There have been a lot of modifications to sports T20 and the Hundred in cricket, rugby sevens, padel tennis is now big.
I felt football could be innovated, modernised, broken up into chunks, and thats what weve done weve taken football and looked at it differently.
From age five where you can kick a ball around, right through to 85, weve had both ends of that spectrum, all abilities, all sexes, all races.
These formats are currently the play phase come in and try it, then the next route is the compete phase, where we find a core following of players who want to take it more seriously, and for them theres a really exciting journey. There are international tournaments and they can really progress their game.
Once weve got enough courts around the country, in padbol for example, we want to start holding national championships. Then well send the best players to different countries to play in World Cups and Euros.
