I can say with certainty that in my new life as a perpetual Padel beginner, I’ve been playing the game roughly once every three weeks on average. This pretty much guarantees that I’ll stay at the same level for at least a year or two—if not even longer.
And it’s not for lack of wanting—definitely not. But there are two main reasons for this. The first one is the "Catch 20x10" I mentioned in one of my IG posts: as a beginner, I struggle to find partners to play with. And since I can’t find partners, I stay a beginner. It’s a vicious cycle—one that I’ll write about more in the future.
The second and most important reason is simple: not enough free time.
Aside from my interests and quirks, I’m an Average Joe in every other aspect. I have a boring 9-to-5 job, three charming little daughters, and a house with a white (plastic) fence and a dog. A life that, while fulfilling, leaves me with very little time to pursue my newfound passion for Padel.
This lack of time makes it difficult to get crucial training opportunities. Most (if not all) of the training sessions I find online are either too early, too far from my town, or—another crucial factor—too pricey for my family budget. The same issue arises when simply trying to schedule a game. On top of that, my level is too low for about 80–90% of the games organized on apps or in various Padel WhatsApp groups. Finding the perfect combination of timing, affordability, and players at my skill level is rare.
For now, my only option is to wait. Hopefully, as Padel continues to grow in my country, more courts will open, increasing competition and driving down the cost of games and training sessions. Ideally, this will also lead to more players like me—without a racket sports background—joining the pool of available partners. Obviously, this is all highly hypothetical, but a guy can dream, right?
In the meantime, I’ll keep searching for the handful of games I can join and savor every one of them as if it were my last!
When people say that Padel is a game that’s "easy to play, difficult to master," I’m not sure they had these challenges in mind—but I believe they should.
P.N.
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