New to padel? These padel tips and tricks will help you get ahead.
If you’re new to the wonderful sport of padel and are looking for a little help to get your game going, it can be hard to know where to look.
Not only is it overwhelming, but the better players don’t necessarily want to give away their tips.
Don’t worry, though – we’ve all been there. And because we know how hard it can be to be a beginner player, we have a few excellent padel tips for beginners to share with you.
By implementing these 10 must-know padel tips and tricks, you will be playing at a comfortable and competitive level in no time.
We’re sure you can’t wait to jump in, so we won’t keep you waiting!
Our top 10 padel tips for beginners are:
- Choose The Right Padel Equipment
- Study The Rules
- Get A Padel Coach
- Play With More Advanced Players
- Get Into The Right Positions
- Stay Out Of No Man’s Land
- Balls To The Wall
- Practice On Your Own
- Get A Grip
- And More…
We’ll cover each of these must-know beginner padel tips in detail below – and also share a few more helpful hints along the way,
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Padel Tips For Beginners: 10 Must-Know Padel Tips And Tricks
Everyone that takes up a new sport will potentially struggle at first – and that’s perfectly normal.
With so many tennis players finding the addictive sport, padel can be especially tricky for anyone who has never played a racket sport before.
Whether you fall into that category or are a beginner player with some racket experience, we want you to struggle less and increase your skill level fast.
The padel tips and tricks below will help the beginner level up quickly and become a more experienced player in no time.
More importantly, the following padel tips for beginners will ensure every game is a positive and enjoyable one as you implement what has worked for thousands of newcomers.
Putting one or two of these padel tips into practice can make a significant difference to your play.
If you can master them all – and avoid the most common mistakes – you’ll see huge progress in a short time. We promise!
1. Choose The Right Padel Equipment
One of the best padel tips for beginners is to choose the right padel equipment before stepping onto the padel court.
This might sound obvious, but it’s something many inexperienced padel players overlook!
We know you might be hesitant to invest in the best padel racket or lots of fancy padel gear before you can be sure you’ll stick around.
However, once you know this is a sport for you, choosing the right racket and gear is best thing you can do.
Finding a good padel racket for you is the first important step – the Head Flash padel racket is a great and affordable option for beginners players – followed by investing in a quality padel shoe.
Last but not least, dressing in comfortable apparel will make a huge difference.
Playing in the right shoes – i.e. ones made specifically for padel – is an important tip for beginners, as wearing regular sneakers or running shoes is not advised.
These shoes don’t protect the foot when moving laterally and can lead to injuries.
A pair of padel shoes are constructed with added stability features that protect your feet, so consider in investing in one early on.
2. Study The Rules
Every sport has rules. The quicker you know what they are and how to play within them, the quicker your game will grow.
We are not suggesting that you get a degree in padel rules before hitting the court, but understanding the must-know padel rules is important to get you into the game.
The hardest rules for new padel players are usually the serving rules, so pay extra attention to these!
The more you know, the more you will grow.
3. Get A Padel Coach
One of the best padel tips for beginners is to get a coach.
Coaches are excellent at fixing techniques (or lack thereof) and will point out the areas that require work while also giving you hundreds of padel tips and tricks.
Time spent with a coach that wants your game to evolve is priceless and worth every penny.
From being taught the serving basics and how to grip your padel racket, to the correct way to hit forehands, backhands, and volleys, a padel coach is an awesome resource to use when new to padel.
A padel coach will focus on teaching you the right technique, which in turn will result in your shots being:
- More consistent
- Harder to return
- More effective
4. Play With More Advanced Players
It’s a well-known sporting fact that the higher the level of competition you find yourself in, the higher your level of play becomes.
We suggest that from the beginning of your padel journey, you find yourself a group of players that are more advanced than you to play against.
Playing against players who are better than you allow you to observe how they play, observe some higher level padel skills, and quickly figure out some padel tips and tricks of your own.
You will have to lift your level to be competitive against these advanced players, which can only be good for your game.
5. Get Into The Right Positions
As with any racket sport, positioning on the court is very important, especially when playing padel.
Before your game advances tactically in the future, you will have to become comfortable with the basic court positions.
When on the receiving team, your starting position should be one back step from the baseline and two steps from the side panel as this is the perfect position to defend from.
When you go of the offensive, playing at the net can be more advantageous because you will have many more attacking options than playing from the back,
If you practice and get good at this, 90% of your winning shots will come from this position.
6. Stay Out Of No Man’s Land
Another very important padel tip for beginners regarding positioning is to stay out of no man’s land.
No man’s land is anywhere from the service line to the second post (net position) and waiting here is one of the most common beginner mistakes.
When playing padel, the two standard positions are at the back of the court and the standard net position.
Hitting a ball played into no man’s land is perfectly fine, but staying in no man’s land after playing the shot isn’t (at least if you want to avoid any unforced errors!).
In this area, you are too far back to play effective volleys.
While it’s an easy mistake to make the first time you play padel, don’t let it become one of your bad habits in the long run.
Experienced opponents will target your feet if they find you positioned in no man’s land, making return shots difficult and defensive.
7. Learn to hit balls on the wall
The walls or glass panels that form part of a padel court can be confusing at first.
However, it’s vitally important that you quickly familiarize yourself with hitting balls to the wall if you want to manoeuvre the court effectively.
Mastering these shots is all about the movement of the legs and being in the right position at the right time. It’s also all about angles.
Don’t worry if you find this tricky at first – almost every player does.
If you really want to learn to use the wall, it might be worth investing in some coaching, taking one of the many padel courses available or watching some padel videos.
8. Work on a good serve
After just a few games of padel, you’ll begin to notice how much of a difference a serving shot can make.
A good serve can easily catch even a professional player off guard.
A bad serve, on the other hand, gives the receiving player an easy return, making it very easy to go on the offensive and return the serve with a tricky shot.
The serve is one of the basic shots you should work on.
There are different ways to approach the service, but you generally want to aim for a low shot that aims for the glass wall just next to where the fence ends.
You can practice serving on your own or with a friend. Or, knowing that you will have a second serve, you can even use your first serving attempt to work on building a good technique.
9. Get A Grip
The most used grip in padel is the continental grip, and as a beginner, we suggest you employ this grip position.
The advantages of the continental grip are that it makes playing technical shots much easier, allows for more spin and acceleration, and gives you the best manoeuvrability.
The continental grip is also required when learning more advanced shots later, like the bandeja, kick smashes, and the vibora.
10. Hit With Less Power
Another excellent padel tip for beginners is to take the pace of the ball and hit with less power.
A common mistake that new players make is trying to hit the padel ball as hard as possible, all the time.
But this isn’t tennis (and the padel ball isn’t a tennis ball!).
A kick or flat smash and an aggressive volley are the only times you need to hit the ball hard.
You can get away with applying 50% of your hitting power and still win games.
In fact, hitting the ball too hard is an easy way to lose points because you increase the chance of hitting the back wall!
As a beginner, focus on returning the ball consistently, positioning yourself in the right areas of the court, and playing at the net.
How Do I Get Better At Padel?
Like in any sport, the more you play, the better you become.
When you are solid with the basics of the game, you will always find more padel tips to help improve your game.
Practice makes perfect – and there’s simply no way to improve without practice!
That said, understanding the ball, the court and the dynamics of the game will help. The beginner padel tips above are the best ones you can learn when getting started.
Is It Hard To Learn Padel?
Compared to other racket sports, padel is relatively easy to learn and a sport that doesn’t require a certain technique level.
It’s also very beginner-friendly and instantly addictive! Plus, everybody is very welcoming, which we think makes it easy to learn.
An important tip for beginner padel players is to focus on the right technique from the beginning and to be patient with yourself as you do.
Unlearning incorrect techniques takes time and will affect your game in the long run, so don’t underestimate this part!
How long does it take to learn padel?
Having a background in tennis or other sports with hand eye-coordination will decrease the time it will take to learn padel and play properly.
However, don’t worry if you have no experience at all. Padel is very accessible for players with little to no racket experience because it’s so unique.
With the help of a padel coach, a player can be expected to learn the game and play at a decent level after just a couple of months.
Of course, it all depends on the individual player’s skill level, fitness level, and ability to learn.
Ultimately, as a padel newcomer who wants to improve their game, the best tip of all we can give is to have fun always. The rest will follow naturally!
