Nov. 27, 2024
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Meet my favorite sport: Padel (or Paddle, as it is sometimes referred to in the English-speaking community).
Until , I'd been a football (soccer) fan all my life and I used to enjoy practicing this sport on a weekly basis with my friends back in Malta. It was my favorite sport by far. However, once I started playing padel it immediately replaced football's place in my life. I became thoroughly addicted to this sport and many years later I still can't get enough of it.
Before trying padel, I'd played a few racket sports sporadically, mostly tennis and table tennis, and I enjoyed both of them.
In , while holidaying in Seville, I saw some people playing padel and I was captivated. I made a promise to myself to try out this strange sport whenever I had the chance. I had no idea what it was called back then.
I later learned that it was called padel and that it is very popular all around Spain. One of the first things I did upon my arrival in Barcelona was to attend a padel meetup. Thus I fulfilled my earlier promise. I was hooked from the very first match I played. Soon enough I was trying out different rackets and reading all the material I could get my hands onto.
I took the sport very seriously and continue to enjoy watching and playing it. You can read about my full padel journey here.
Padel is a very social sport. It is always played in doubles format, unlike tennis where the main focus is on the singles matches. It is also very easy to learn compared to tennis, so you don't even need lessons to start playing with your friends. This is especially true if you have played other racket sports in the past. Here in Barcelona, one can find various tournaments called Americanas which mean that everyone plays against everyone, changing partners for every match. As you can imagine you can get to know a lot of people during such tournaments. They're the perfect place for expats to make new friends especially if you want to make some local friends.
The sport is essentially a combination of tennis and squash and is great for players of all ages and skills. The court is one-third the size of a tennis court and is enclosed with wire mesh and glass walls which you can play off when you need to. Rules are a mixture of squash and tennis, and use the same scoring system as tennis. Compared to tennis it is less focused on strength and more on tactics and psychology.
Padel in its current form was invented by Mexican millionaire Enrique Corcuera in the s, although we can trace back its origins to when it was played by British sailors in the lower levels of their navy ships. The first padel courts in Spain were built in , in Marbella. Spain counts with nearly 10,000 padel courts (about the same number as Argentina where the game was developed earlier), approximately 4 million regular players, and the number of registered players is continuously increasing. Sales of paddle rackets in Spain are nearly four times that of tennis rackets.
Padel is very popular in Spain and Argentina as it's been played in these countries for decades, however, many other countries are experiencing a padel boom and are catching up. We might in fact be entering the golden age of Padel as it is currently the fastest-growing racket sport in the world.
With Spain being a very popular tourist destination, many tourists are getting introduced to Padel there and then taking their new-found hobby back to their countries. This is currently one of the main drivers behind Padel's growth in Europe. World Padel Tour and Premier Padel, the biggest worldwide competitions, also help create interest outside of Spain.
Building padel courts is also a great investment opportunity since courts are smaller than tennis and the rental is paid by four people, therefore maximizing revenues. It is, therefore, more feasible to build padel courts versus tennis courts, especially in densely populated areas where the cost of land is very high.
If you're interested in trying padel, you'll need the following equipment:
At a professional level, both men's and women's matches are very exciting to watch. However, I'd say the women's matches are better if you are watching to learn new techniques.
The men's matches are more exciting as the points tend to be longer and crowd-pleasers such as smashes and out-of-court play are more common. However, since they are played at breakneck speed it's hard to follow the particular movements of the players and hence harder to learn from. Of course you can always grab a recording and play it in slow motion to learn how your favorite player hits the ball. It's just very hard to do so when you're watching live games.
Padel tournaments are not only for the pros. Any padel player can also join amateur tournaments that are held in many cities in Spain. We are now seeing international amateur padel tournaments start to take place, as it's becoming a profitable niche in the sports tourism sector.
If you're in Barcelona you can join our Barcelona padel community on Facebook.
Have you ever played padel or seen it being played? I'd love to hear from padel players from all around the world!
Padel
01/08/22 ' 3 MINUTE READ
From Mexico to Britain via Argentina and Spain ' the evolution of padel explained.
Padel's an innovative form of tennis that's fun, easy to learn and extremely sociable.
Played as doubles on an enclosed court about a third the size of a tennis court, groups of mixed ages and abilities can play together.
Padel is fast-paced and is often described as a mix between tennis and squash. Scoring is the same as tennis, but is played with different rackets and with lower pressure balls.
Are you interested in learning more about padel tennis court news? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
Mexican businessman Enrique Corcuera set up the first-ever padel court at his holiday home in Acapulco in ' but the roots of the sport go back further than that.
During the 19th century, passengers on British cruise ships played a similar game with tennis rackets and in the s 'platform tennis' became popular in Washington and New York, with paddles replacing traditional tennis rackets.
Over the next decade, changes were made to the courts, adding wooden floors and high surrounding fences to avoid losing the ball in the winter snow.
But it wasn't until the s when Mexican Enrique Corcuera set up the first recognised court on land he owned in Acapulco. The main difference being that he surrounded his court with walls and a metallic fence of up to four metres on all sides, designed to prevent the ball from escaping onto his neighbour's land.
He called the sport Paddle Corcuera ' and the rest is history.
Spanish enterpenuer Alfonso de Hohenlohe, a friend of Enrique's, was the main driving force behind making padel an international sport.
While visiting Mexico in , Hohenlohe enjoyed this new game so much that he decided to import it to Spain's Costa del Sol, where he built the country's first two padel courts at the Marbella Club.
The introduction of the courts marked the beginning of the game's popularity among the members of this exclusive club, including the tennis player Manolo Santana, who won four Grand Slam titles.
Soon, tournaments were being organised along the Costa del Sol as more and more clubs built their own courts.
In an Argentine millionaire, Julio Menditenguia, discovered padel in Marbella and decided to take the sport to his country ' where it became hugely popular.
Today there are more than two million officially licensed padel players in Argentina, a country that boasts more than 10,000 padel courts.
Padel is also wildly popular in Spain today as well. The European country has more than 20,000 padel courts, with an estimated six million active players. Behind football, it's the country's second-most-popular sport.
In the International Paddle Federation was formed and in the first world championships were held in the dual cities of Madrid and Seville.
In , the Sports Council of Spain recognised paddle as a sport, and changed its spelling to padel for pronunciation purposes in the Spanish language.
In the first professional world tour, Padel Pro Tour, was created. In this was renamed as the World Padel Tour ' a circuit that still runs today with events held across the world.
In the British Paddle Association was formed by a group of passionate British expats seeking to compete in the World Paddle Championships.
Since then the sport has steadily grown throughout Britain.
In the LTA announced it will integrate British Padel into the organisation's day-to-day operations.
As of November there are around 6,000 active padel players across the UK. There are also currently 82 padel courts in Britain at 45 clubs ' a number that is set to grow substantially over the coming years.
In November the LTA was confirmed as the national governing body for Padel and as part of its Padel Development Plan it is looking to have 400 padel courts in place across the United Kingdom by .
Get involved in the fastest growing sport in the world and how you can get involved.
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If you want to learn more, please visit our website Contact FORTUNE Padel Courts Supplier.
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