Is your racquet ready for some padel? If not, you’d better arm yourself with one as you head on over to the Country Club Johannesburg (CCJ), right here in Auckland Park.
Many might ask, however, what is padel and why would you need a racquet for it? The Northcliff Melville Times spoke to the club’s Padel coach, Dean Nortier who shared some facts about the young sport.
Dean explained that padel is a racquet sport with similar features to other racquet sports. “It’s usually played in doubles on an enclosed court surrounded by walls of glass and metallic mesh, and the court is one-third of the size of a tennis court and scoring works just like tennis.”
The sport, which is quite young – with it only having been around for about 50 years – is said to have originated from Mexico. It is a combination of squash, tennis and even a bit of badminton. Dean said this is probably why players of these sports easily understand and adapt to padel as they all share similar features such as movement and strokes.
While padel is typically played in doubles only, Dean shared, however, that ‘some brave and fit sportsmen will take on a singles game’. He has over seven years of coaching experience in squash but since he was introduced to padel earlier this year, he has been spending a lot of time on the court, playing and learning more about the sport. He has also introduced and helped others develop the basic skills and further enjoy the game on another level.
According to Dean, what makes this sport so unique is that it can easily satisfy the needs related to both leisure and physical activity of all segments that make up society. He added that padel doesn’t require great technical skill to obtain almost immediate satisfaction. “It makes it possible for players of different strengths and skills to be able to play with or against each other without constraints.”
In Dean’s opinion, padel is one the fastest growing sports in the world with more and more people starting to play it. “Courts are being built all over the world and will only continue to grow more.”
This club will be the second facility in the city to open padel courts, the first being in Roodepoort.
To start your padel dreams, all you need is a padel racquet made from either fibre or carbon fibre, padel balls that are essentially decompressed tennis balls and specific shoes, “Players are currently using either their squash or tennis shoes but you do get padel specific shoes.”
Dean concluded padel is a lifestyle that doesn’t differentiate between sexes, ages, or levels therefore can be played by anyone, making it a multi-generational game.
