Jack Bloomfield has packed a lot into his young sporting life.

The 22-year-old took on the role of head coach at The Padel Club in Cheltenham when it opened in August, having previously worked in a similar position at Elkstone Studios in the Cotswolds.

Padel is a sport that is growing rapidly in popularity in this country. A hybrid of tennis and squash, it’s fast, fun and very good for fitness.

It is typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court and Bloomfield is a huge fan, even though it is a sport he played for the first time only three or four years ago.

“I played just for fun,” he said. “I really enjoyed it, I didn’t take it too seriously.”

He takes it a lot more seriously now, of course, but he’s still having fun and is probably the best player in Gloucestershire.

“I’d back myself against anyone else in the county,” he said.

And he wants to keep challenging himself. Next year he’s planning to play in tournaments across Europe with Spanish player Pablo Navarro, who is a former world-ranked player.

He also wants to play for Wales – his mum Sally plays for Wales Over-50s – so padel has become a big part of his life in a short time.

Racket sport is something that has always come pretty naturally to Bloomfield who was a top squash player when he was growing up in Cheltenham.

He started playing squash at the age of six – his dad Ian and mum were both good players – and he recalled: “I played at Old Patesians, Gary Powell was my coach, he was amazing. He was the biggest sporting influence on me outside my family.”

And it was soon apparent that Bloomfield, who was following in the footsteps of Nathan Lake and Tom Ford at the Pats, was a very good player.

“I won the county closed age group title every year and the South West regionals every year,” he said. “When I was 16 I won the men’s county closed title, I was the youngest player to win it.”

And it wasn’t just in Gloucestershire and the South West that he made his mark.

“I won the Canadian Junior Open and was a semi-finalist in the US Open,” he continued. “I also won the Swiss Junior Open and was runner-up in the Czech Open.”

And while the role of Gary Powell was massive in his development, Bloomfield, who went to  Wycliffe College, also acknowledges the role played by Jonny Harford during his time at the school in Stonehouse.

“He was an amazing coach, awesome,” said Bloomfield. “At his peak as a player he was in the top 50 in the world.”

Bloomfield readily admits that when he was younger he had always planned to follow in the footsteps of Harford and Lake and become a professional squash player.

At the age of 18 he was awarded a sports scholarship to the US in Philadelphia, which he gladly accepted.

It was for four years but he was back home within a year.

“It was very intense, I fell out of love with squash,” he admitted. “I played a bit when I came back but I decided I didn’t want to turn pro.

“It’s such a tough way to make a living, Nathan [Lake] has done so well.”

By this time he’d started to play a lot more padel and even though he plays squash once a week for Old Pats in the Gloucestershire Squash League, padel is now very much his number one sport.

“It’s got similarities with tennis and squash but there are massive differences,” he said. “If you’re at the net then it’s similar to tennis, but if you’re playing defensively at the back of the court that’s when it’s similar to squash.”

A padel ball is smaller and heavier than a tennis ball, which makes them slower and easier to control. Padel has the same scoring system as tennis, but the rackets are solid and perforated, there are no strings.

“Tactically, it’s a really complicated game,” continued Bloomfield. “With four players on court, there’s very little space, you have to be very clever to create space.”

That’s something that Bloomfield obviously has in his locker but he says one of the great things about padel is that it is a sport that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities.

“It’s very accessible, anyone can play padel,” he said. “It’s very fresh, there are no cliques, it doesn’t matter how good you are.

“It’s a sport that serves all players, it gives you a good workout.”