My journey in Padel - a personal introduction.

My journey in Padel might be in its beginning, but I could say that it's more complicated than that, let me explain:

Back in the 80s, when I was a little boy in faraway Argentina, I kept hearing about this game called "Paddle" (as it was called back then), in TV highlights of games and ads for the latest (wooden) rackets were shown repeatedly, in newspapers celebrities were pictured playing it, in sport magazines players with surnames like Lasaigues, Alvarez Clementi, Gattiker, Sanz, Maquirrain and several others were touted as superstars and hailed as the best in the world (which they sure were), and it got me really intrigued and interested in the game, and told myself that when the opportunity will come, I sure would like to play it.

And now a bit of historical context, I was born in 82' and the period that I mentioned earlier were the "boom" years of the sport which took place between the late 80s and the mid 90s, which also were the years of a severe economic crisis in the country (what's new?), so me and my family moved out of Argentina never to return, and said opportunity to play the game never took place.

In my adopted country I was safely sheltered from any contact with the game, save from the occasional snippets of games in Spanish TV once or twice in a decade. During all these years the memories of the game were always lurking in some dark and remote part of my brain, but never really coming to the surface, since barring my immediate family, nobody in my entire surroundings ever heard of Padel, let alone watched it, and in turn, the game slowly faded away from my consciousness with each passing year, in the meantime I got married, had my daughters and bizarrely life kept going on in spite of all that.

But then during those crazy lockdown times, something even crazier happened, Padel reached our shores! Granted, a court was opened in a very exclusive country club in the big city, out of reach geographically and financially for a lower middle class guy from a small town like me, but that childhood dream of getting inside a court and play Padel was reignited, and sure enough, this year 2 courts were opened in nearby cities, with more modest offerings, and I did not let this renewed opportunity go away again, I bought myself a second-hand racket from a sketchy brand, got myself the coveted free trial lesson and never looked back since, except when I turn to see my wife's frustrated face as I go to get some action the court and leave her alone with our 3 little girls!

So in conclusion, my journey in Padel is a strange mixture of a mild midlife crisis with the fulfillment of a long-awaiting childhood dream--or at least that's what I keep telling her...

Want to share how you caught the Padel bug? Tell us in the comments section!

Lets Play Padel!