George Agricultural Show is in very late stages of negotiations with a company that is going to establish PaddleTennis courts at the showgrounds.
What is PadelTennis?
Taken from the PaddleTennis SA web site.
Padel Tennis is the fastest growing sport in the world and now has over 12 million players around the world with 11,500 courts in Spain alone. Padel tennis is the second biggest sport in Soccer crazed Argentina and Spain. It has an international governing body (International Padel federation) and a professional league the World Padel Tour. It is a dynamic sport that takes the best parts of Tennis and Squash and creates something more – More fun, more action, more social.
Padel tennis is a doubles game played on an astro turf court that is 20 metres x 10 metres and enclosed on all sides by walls. The walls enable players to play shots off the glass as long as the ball has only bounced once.
The game is played with a stringless padel which has many benefits for the Padel player. The Padel is closer to the hand making hand-eye co-ordination more intuitive. It also does not have a rim or edge which anyone who has played tennis can be a great frustration leading to shots going wrong.
The ball is a tennis ball that is less compressed than a regular ball bringing making net play and fast reactions a big element of the game. The serve is underarm, with serves being made no higher than the hip. Making the game less about technique, strength and power. Padel tennis is easy to pick up and gives the players and spectators more of the all the things we love about tennis and squash, rallies, dynamic action and fun.
Because the court is smaller players are closer together making conversation easier and more natural resulting in more social feel. With the more technical and power related elements removed Padel is more about strategy and tactics than power, making it appealing to all ages and abilities. In tennis women make on average only 15% of players in Padel the percentage of women players is 30%
