Padel Power

I’m a tennis player. I’ve played since I was eleven and I still absolutely love it. I wouldn’t swap it for golf or kickboxing or scuba diving. No way!

But… today I played my first game of Padel Tennis and well, surprisingly, my head may have been turned!

Padel Tennis is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. in Argentina, Spain and Mexico (to name a few), Padel is huge. In fact, in Spain, Padel is the second most popular sport after football and is played by 8 million people each month. Padel England’s aim is to get 1 million Brits playing the game by 2015.

My first game of Padel ever was played against Frankie Langhan who may just be destined to be future World number one. Frankie is the resident Padel Tennis Pro at David Lloyd Chigwell where the first ever Padel Tennis courts for David Lloyd Leisure in the UK have just appeared.

After my workout with Frankie he was leaving for a major Padel tournament in Mexico, so let’s hope I helped to sharpen up his racquet skills… I wish!

Padel is an amazing game. It’s played as a doubles game, it’s fast, furious (when played by the Pros) and in some respects a fantastic combination of squash, badminton and tennis. After 20 minutes on court almost anyone with a minimum amount of eye-to-ball coordination can play and because the game starts with an underarm service (unlike tennis) it is easy to get a game going.

I loved it and after two sets I am a total fan.

I’m Keith Sammels, Creative Director at LAW Creative and if you would like to get the Padel tennis experience check out this Padel Tennis video made for David Lloyd Leisure.