A sport new to America, but not to Mexico, South America, and Europe, will be added to the East Hampton Indoor/Outdoor Club’s list of offerings come the spring.
The sport is padel, “the fastest growing sport in the world, which is now getting a foothold in the United States,” Scott Rubenstein, E.H.I.T.’s managing partner, said this week. The three courts whose construction is underway at the club are presumably the first such in East Hampton Town.
Played on an enclosed glass-and-wire 10-by-20-meter court, padel, a doubles game, combines the serving and volleying of tennis with squash’s off-the-wall shots. It was first played in Acapulco in 1969, and then spread to South America and Europe.
The club, come spring, will pretty much have the racket sports covered, what with tennis (indoors and outdoors), platform tennis (or paddle, as it is also known), pickleball, and padel. Rubenstein said he had at one time or another considered adding squash and badminton courts, but ultimately demurred. (Aside: Padel aficionados say that if you can play padel, pickleball is boring.)
The three courts are to be managed by their two young constructors, Rohan Kamdar and Lucho G. They will call their partnership with Rubenstein “Brisas,” a tribute, they said, to “the well-known area in Acapulco known for its elegance and beauty where padel was born in the 1960s.”
“We are hoping for Brisas to be a sanctuary where everyone can learn about padel and socialize through the sport — we’ll have exhibitions, clinics, and private lessons with various membership options,” said Kamdar, who added that the courts would be open to the public.
Lying over two of the club’s 20 outdoor Har-Tru tennis courts, the three padel courts’ smoothed cement foundation ought to provide enough bounce — padel balls, while about the same size as tennis balls, are somewhat softer — so that even older players will be able to enjoy the game.
Speaking of the game, the setup and scoring are like tennis, though the net is a bit lower and the serves — a second one is allowed if the first lands outside the server’s box — are underhanded off a bounce with the ball struck below the waist. A salient rule is that the ball must bounce before it hits a side or back wall, which can be used to keep the ball in play. (That’s where a knowledge of squash, or of platform tennis, with its wire-enclosed courts, comes in handy.)
And, as in paddle, lob, lob, lob, and patience, rather than hard-charging aggression, generally win the day, though mano-a-mano net play and whacked overheads admittedly are tempting.
Frankly, this writer, who has played padel on a court with a softer foundation than cement, thought the game had passed him by — balls hit into the glass wall corners, rather than carom off, simply died, leading him to wish for a tennis ball, rather than a padel ball, to play with. The cement foundation of the courts at E.H.I.T., however, ought to assure players, of all ages, a livelier and longer-lasting game.
Those interested in signing up to play padel at E-Hit can do so by emailing [email protected].