SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The Pro-Padel League has come to San Diego and the Barnes Tennis Center. It's a game played with a paddle and a tennis ball.
"Padel is one of the most exhilarating sports. It's a sport that is a participatory sport, and a spectator sport. You don't even have to play it," says San Diego Stingrays CEO Ryan Redondo.
However, plenty of people are playing the game of padel. It's similar to tennis as a net divides the court but also has similarities to racquetball and squash.
"What we like to say is that paddle is really really really easy to learn but hard to master," says Pro-Padel League player Luis Estrada.
"There is a lot of strategy and teamwork it's really amazing and once people start they get hooked," says Pro-Padel League player Britany Dubins.
The sport has a scoring system very much like tennis.
"We play two out of three sets depending what tournament you play in. We also play with sudden point or golden point, so it's pretty much the same scoring," says Estrada.
What sticks out in this sport is the plexiglass wall that surrounds the court.
"You have these glass walls behind you, and you can use the walls to defend," says Redondo. "You can hit the glass wall to make the ball go back over similar to squash."
"If the ball bounces on the court and then hits the wall you can play the ball off the wall, but if it hits directly onto the wall then the ball is out," says Dubins.
Looking at the court from afar, you might think you are watching a game of pickleball. However, the games are very different.
"It gets mixed up, and can tell you it happens a lot," says Estrada. I can say for me that while people may get mad, pickleball is a game paddle is a sport I think padel will make it to the Olympics."
