What is padel and pickleball? A beginners guide to two rapidly growing sports

Tennis icon John McEnroe (left) and former NFL star Drew Brees (right) are some of pickleball's growing celebrity playerbase. Photo / Getty Images

Bat, ball, played on a court and you hit over a net - that is where the similarities begin and end between the sports of padel and pickleball.

The game of padel was invented by a Mexican businessman, Enrique Corcuera, in the 1960s who didn’t have enough space in the grounds of his holiday home in Acapulco for a tennis court, so he squashed one in a space that had walls at both ends.

After playing golf one summer, Joel Pritchard, congressman from Washington State and Bill Bell, successful businessman, returned to Pritchard’s home to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court so they looked for some equipment and could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. As they introduced Barney McCallum, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and soon the men created rules, relying heavily on badminton, birthing the sport of pickleball.

The name padel is self-explanatory, although it becomes a little more confusing when you learn the padel is actually called a racket. Pickleball’s name is believed to have been inspired by the name of the Pritchard family dog, although historians disagree on this sometimes contentious topic. Pickleball rackets are called paddles, just to deepen the confusion between the two further.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, the two sports are at varying stages of development. Pickleball’s introduction came in 2015 at Rotorua Badminton Club by US players and frequent visitors, Claire Spackman and David McNamara. On the other hand, the first padel court in the country was completed in November of last year. This speaks more to the specifics and cost around fully-functioning padel courts rather than the sport’s popularity.

As is the case with a lot of sports once we leave school and pursue them in our own time, the social benefits begin to become as important as the physical. Both pickleball and padel offer opportunities to socialise both on the court and post-play and are available for people of all ages, fitness or skill levels.

Similarities and differences between padel and pickleball

The two sports are similar in core foundation only, that is the objective is to hit a ball over a net.

The biggest difference between the two is that you can play off the glass walls in padel. Padel is played in a court with high walls made of glass and steel mesh. Pickleball can be played in a variety of settings, from dedicated courts to badminton courts or even taped lines on a gym floor.

Most pickleball games are played up close to the net in a defensive strategy whereas in padel a lot of the balls are directed to hitting the walls, so there tends to be a more running in padel. Padel is said to be more physically challenging than pickleball due to the higher intensity, larger court size and longer rallies due to the ball staying in play off the walls.

Similarities:

• Both sports are easy to learn for beginners but have multiple levels so they challenge advanced players as well.
• Like padel, pickleball is a tad easier on the joints than tennis as the court is smaller, meaning you can play until you are well into your 70s or even 80s.
• Both padel and pickleball serve underarm, but in padel the ball needs to bounce first, in pickleball you can choose whether to bounce it or not.
• Played most often in doubles.

Differences:

• Pickleball is played on an open court like badminton or tennis, with no walls surrounding the court. The walls on a padel court are the biggest point of difference between the two.
• The rackets (or what they are called in pickleball, the paddles) are very different to each other. The pickleball paddle, is a squarish shape with a solid face and is made of graphite, carbon fibre or fibreglass. Padel, a rounder shape, uses a thicker racket with a perforated face.
• Pickleball courts are 6 x 13 metre dimensions whereas padel courts are 20 x 10 metres - a pickleball court is the same size as a badminton court.
• The balls used are different, pickleball uses a ball made of plastic with holes in it, that looks more like a wiffleball. Padel uses a similar ball to a tennis ball.
• There are areas of the pickleball court that are “out of bounds” or that you are not permitted to step on, barring certain specific exceptions.
• Most pickleball games are played up close to the net (the aim is to get up to the net early on as a defence stance) but in padel, where a lot of the balls are directed to hitting the walls, there tends to be a more running.
• In pickleball there is no second serve, unlike in padel where you get a second chance.

Whichever path you decide to take be it padel or pickle, the two sports are on course to cement themselves as all-year sporting favourites as they grow in popularity.

Will Toogood is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has previously worked for Newstalk ZB’s digital team and at Waiheke’s Gulf News, covering sports and events.