The fastest-growing racket sport in the world, padel, is quickly making its mark in Buffalo City, with a new league being formed recently.
Padel combines elements of tennis and squash, with scoring the same as tennis, but it is played with solid, stringless rackets and a depressurised ball.
Its court consists of upright beams and a number of 12mm thick glass panels, similar to squash courts.
Players, usually playing doubles, score exactly as in tennis, except they serve by bouncing the ball before hitting it underhand.
It is popular in the Americas and Spain, and has grown significantly in SA.
There is already the Red Bull Padel Dash, which is an international tournament.
Egypt have established themselves as major team in the sport.
For SA, there is some way to go, but with investment being pumped into the sport and new courts being built across the provinces, the country will likely make their way up the ladder quickly.
When that time comes, those who love the sport say they are working hard for East London to become the mecca of the sport.
The Royal Padel League, which started at the beginning of November, is based at the Padel Park, situated inside the Beacon Bay Country Club and has four teams — the Jaguars, Raptors, Spartans and Cloud 9 — competing every Thursday.
The league has a men’s and a women’s division.
The Dispatch caught up with Jaguars president Reece Basson, whose club was established in January.
He said the padel community in East London started as social groups, which morphed into tournaments.
“In those tournaments, you either entered individually or with a partner. That is when the discussions started (about a league),” Basson said.
“What is the next thing we are looking for in terms of the sport?
“All top-level sport gets played in a league structure. We started having clubs and got our memberships running.
“Each of the four East London clubs have executive structures in place. Interested individuals can affiliate with these clubs.
“We have kept the numbers low to sort out the logistics. It is not like your hockey, soccer or cricket.”
Basson wants his Jaguars club, who have 30 members, to be the leading padel club in East London.
“We want to be the best in terms of our playing abilities, outreach programmes, inter-league games and travel around the Eastern Cape, to Gqeberha, to be specific,” he said.
Over the weekend, the Border women’s invitational team took on their Eastern Province counterparts in the first such event in the Eastern Cape.
Daily Dispatch
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