Sports pitch lighting – light pollution in the surrounding area
The bigger they are, the harder they fall
In recent times, no sport has grown as much as padel. As we wrote in our article: Padel courts become increasingly popular in the Netherlands, it’s almost impossible to think of a region where there are no padel courts. On one hand that’s good news, of course. Padel is a fun and accessible sport, enjoyed by a lot of people. From children’s parties and family outings, to real passion and an élite sport level. Unfortunately, there’s a drawback to all this steady growth. It’s popularity has expanded faster than the regulations around the construction of padel courts. So padel and tennis associations often have to deal with complaints from the surrounding area because of noise polution. Complaints are made about padel court lighting too.
Sports pitch lighting without light pollution
Padelverlichting was set up with a mission to raise the quality standards of current padel court lighting to a higher level. Of course, tackling light pollution is at the forefront of this. We’d like to see padel continue to grow in The Netherlands. That is why we rolled up our sleeves and developed LED lighting for padel courts that takes the environment into account. Padelverlichting’s LED fixtures are designed with a special lens technology. So you’ll be better protected in advance from having to make changes to meet the requirements of the Dutch Padel Bond, the KNLTB or any new laws.
Namely, the lens is asymmetrical, which bends the light in such a way that it only shines on the court. What’s more, the LED fixtures can also be placed horizontally as a consequence. You often see current lighting fixtures for sports pitches located in corners, so that a large amount of their light shines outside the boundaries. Padelverlichting’s horizontally installed fixtures with asymmetrical lenses barely have this issue. The light only shines a couple of metres outside the court’s boundaries and the illuminance reduces quickly. This is done to prevent light pollution.
Padel players aren’t troubled by the light either.
An excellent and important side effect of this special lens technology is that neither the players nor the spectators experience much glare. Regardless of their position on or around the pitch. It’s almost taken as a given that players must sometimes look towards the light and can be blinded by its glare as a result. Players from Tennisvereniging H.T.C. Santana Hoogkarspel say that they now know better. Namely, one of the two padel courts there was fitted with Padelverlichting fixtures. These were experienced as so pleasant that the players claimed they only wanted to play on the new court. It goes without saying that the other court has now been fitted with the new fixtures.
Want to know more about lighting for padel courts? View our specialised LED fixtures