Padel is a new-ish sport that is taking England by storm, so Michael Plant and Theo Hewson Betts went down to Pure Padel to give it a go.
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00:00Now never mind introducing you to a new place, I'm here potentially introducing you to a new sport today.
00:05That sport is paddle, and its popularity in the UK has really increased over the last year after originally gaining a lot of ground in Europe.
00:12There's a couple of venues in Manchester today where you can give it a go. I'm joined by Michael Plant today, one of our sports writers.
00:17We're going to give it a try together. And later, it's a testament to its popularity that we'll be watching a pro-am tournament that will feature the likes of Phil Jones, Adam Peaty, Julian Lescott and Jill Scott.
00:26So let's go give it a try.
00:27Unfortunately, we weren't left to fend for ourselves on the court. Me and Michael were given a masterclass by coach Dominic Wooland. Here's what he had to say about the sport and why it's so popular.
00:36So I've been an avid tennis player for about 30 years, and I started playing paddle about five years ago.
00:44And the first courts were put into Guernsey, which is where I live. And I'm now the paddle coach over in Guernsey, one of two paddle coaches in Guernsey.
00:53I think it's closest to simulation as tennis, because essentially you're hitting the ball over the net. The principal difference is there is a back glass at the end of the court.
01:05So the object of the game in tennis is obviously just to get the ball past your opponent and the court's finished.
01:11Of course, in paddle, what then happens is the ball goes past you, comes off the back glass and play continues.
01:17It's very social. It's always playing doubles. It's very easy to play. It's much easier to play than tennis. And also, it's much easier to play cross ability.
01:29So if you're playing someone in tennis who's significantly better than you, somebody with a big serve can just blow you away and you lose the fun very quickly.
01:37That doesn't happen in paddle. It's all underarm. Of course, you can play high level or low level, but whatever it is, it's fun.
01:44The growth of paddle has been extraordinary, but I think if anybody who's played it, it is such fun and it's not difficult to see why people from all walks of life get excited about it.
01:56So after talking us through his introduction to the sport, Dominic also introduced us to what the sport is and the history of it.
02:02It was invented in 1968 by a man in Mexico who didn't have room for a full-size tennis court in his back garden. So paddle is what he came up with.
02:10With the big difference, obviously, as Dominic said, being the glass backboard, which is part of play. So me and Michael were itching to get going.
02:17We picked up some tips and tricks along the way, tried to put them into practice with some fairly questionable rallies, and then we went into a full-blown game.
02:24Fortunately, Dominic was on my team. It was really fun, really easy to understand, really sociable, and just genuinely a great, great time.
02:32And it's a testament to its popularity that people like Phil Jones, Julian Lescott were participating in a pro-arm tournament later on in the day.
02:38So I've just finished my round of squash. Michael is still playing there. I'd like to say I'm slightly better than him, because I am.
02:44He seems to have fallen in love with it. And it's easy to see why, and why it's had such rising popularity.
02:49It does feel more accessible than tennis. It does feel more social than squash.
02:53Now the celebrity tournament is just about to begin, but the main focus of this video has been introducing you to a new sport.
02:57We hope we've done that. Follow Manchester World for more.