Playing Padel in Miami

Our First Time Playing Padel in Miami – A Sunny Surprise

Until recently, I couldn’t have told you the difference between padel and pickleball. Spoiler alert: one involves a court with glass walls and the other does not. While, we were in Miami for a family wedding, we happened to walk by Real Padel in Miami and stopped to watch players playing. Our family is huge into tennis, so we were quite intrigued. My husband and son had watched padel on tv several times in the past and were quite familiar with it. They asked about being able to reserve a court and they had availability the following morning.

What Even Is Padel?

Padel (pronounced like “pah-DEL”) is a mix between tennis and squash. It’s played on a smaller court than a tennis court and the court is surrounded by glass walls. It is an extremely fast and fun game that requires very fast reflexes. The game was created by a man in Mexico in the 1960’s and has grown in popularity. It is very popular in South America (especially Argentina) and Spain. and the game was first created in Mexico by a man that originally was trying to —played on a smaller court with glass walls and lots of quick reflexes. It is typically played in doubles format.

Game On

We showed up at our reserved court time at 11am as the heat was rising. It was a bright sunny day and we were prepared with our sneakers laced while covered in sunscreen. We received paddles and padel balls. The balls resemble tennis balls but are more inflated. My son and husband had studied up on the rules the night before and had told me the basic rules. My brother in law also joined us which was a blast because it was the morning of his wedding!

For someone that hadn’t played tennis in 18 months, something clicked for me. I was able to hit the ball relatively well with my left hand and we all just had so much fun. I was hooked. It felt like a very intimate game of tennis given the size of the court. The glass walls and heavy ball, made for quick movements and reflexes and while I missed every (or almost) shot that hit the glass wall, I still had so much fun. Overall, we got the hang of the game and while we weren’t going to be winning any competitions, we felt decent at it by the end of the 90 minutes.

Would We Play Again?

Absolutely! It turns out there are at least two padel clubs near us with another being built within the next year. Who knows, maybe I’ll turn my obsession from tennis to padel! If you’re ever in Miami and looking for something active, different, and delightfully un-serious? Try Real Padel. Whether you’re a sports junkie or, like me, just happy to try something new, this might just be your next favorite family memory waiting to happen. If you still prefer tennis, check our experience of the Delray Beach Open!