A few months ago, someone in New Jersey who wanted to play padel – a racket sport that combines elements of tennis and squash – would have to cross the river to New York to find a court.
Currently, there are three teams open in the district, with more to come next year.
Players and club owners say the sport is popular in the area because of its fast pace, long waves and the community that builds around it.
“Last year, it was crazy,” said Will Persson, a 28-year-old player who lives in Fair Lawn. “We see a lot of investment in sports. There are these new groups that are emerging. “
The story continues below the photo gallery.
Padel, pronounced “PAH-del” or sometimes “paddle,” depending on who you talk to, originated in Mexico in the 1960s and was later brought to Spain, where it is now a second sport. most played behind the scenes in football. As of 2020 it has become very popular in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, and is growing rapidly in the US, especially in Florida, California and New York.
It is a two-person game played on a court that looks like a small tennis court with glass walls. Players use a fiberglass racket, slightly shorter than a tennis racket, with holes instead of strings.
Hitting is similar to tennis, but serves are hit from below the waist rather than above, and the ball – like a tennis ball but slightly depressed – can be played from either which of the four walls.
In June, the Padel United Sports Club opened in what was a vacant warehouse in Cresskill, with seven courts and a 10,000-square-foot fitness center with a swimming pool. salt water, steam room, sauna, and cold and hot water pools.
Jon Krieger, co-founder and part of the team behind Fat Choy in Englewood and Spring House in Tenafly, said that before the club opened, there was already a waiting list to get in. .
Walid Idriss, co-owner of And Padel in Oakland, which also opened in June, has been wanting to open a club since he was introduced to the sport two years ago in Florida and became “very addicted ,” but it took time. finding a suitable building with adequate ceilings.
The team has a 40-foot ceiling, the highest in the area, Idriss said, and is led by Ashraf Yassin, the coach of the US national squash team.
The membership of the United States Padel Association has grown from 325 members in 2021 to 1,750 members in 2023 to more than 2,500 members this year. Those numbers represent about 5% of the total number of padel players in the United States, according to the organization.
That’s nothing compared to the estimated 13.6 million pickleball players in the US, according to the 2024 Sports & Fitness Industry Association, but Idriss said he sees padel becoming more popular in America in the next five years.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are, if you’re an athlete or a beginner, you can get on the court and play,” he said. “The learning curve is very short, but the more you play, the better.”
In Morristown, Centercourt Club & Sports opened three indoor courts in May. The club opened three more outdoor courts this week.
“It’s the right time. People love the game,” said Richy Bailey, padel director at Centercourt and former coach of the Finnish national team. Bailey left this spring from Spain, where he has played the game since the early 1990s.
He said: “Everything looks like it’s caused a huge explosion on the courts all over here. “I can see the faces of everyone who tries it here – the game will go on. grow up.”
Brad Hoffman plans to open his club, CrownPadel, in Princeton on Labor Day. He and his partners are in talks to open five more CrownPadel locations in North Jersey and Westchester in the next year or so.
“Our motto is ‘place for the masses.’ We want to make the game accessible to everyone,” he said.
The teams will be operated by HiPadel, a company that runs padel teams in the United States. The founder, Miquel Montero de Quadras, who came to the US from Spain two years ago, called padel “chess of racket games.”
He said: “It is relatively easy to start playing padel, but it is almost difficult to master it. “You have fun on the first day, then you realize that someone plays differently more than you, and you start learning different shots.”
Persson grew up in Leonia, playing mixed racket sports – tennis, table tennis and squash. He plays college tennis at Stevens Institute of Technology and recently competed in a national pickleball tournament.
He started playing padel in 2022 when Padel Haus opened in Brooklyn and played the sport regularly until spring, when clubs started opening in New Jersey.
Also:Two major pickleball facilities are set to open in North Jersey next year
“People love racket sports. It’s such a wave now,” he said. “Pickleball has done an amazing job for the entire racket sports industry, to get people playing. Padel is taking it to the next level. It’s a good change for a lot of people. It’s faster.
Padel points tend to be longer and more complex than tennis because the walls keep the ball in play. Because it’s a two-person sport and played on a small court, padel is social in nature, Persson said.
“It’s a community game. It’s like pickleball, it brings people together,” he said. “That’s what draws people to play — it’s a great opportunity to meet new people, socialize with friends and have a good time.”
#padel #racquet #sport #growing #popularity