The mulled wine slowly reaches the right temperature. The home-baked cakes and other small snacks are arranged on a small wooden table. The first songs boom from the large music box. Everything is prepared for the last padel tournament of the year.
Almost 20 club members from SG Niederwalgern-Wenkbach in the state of Hesse were not deterred by the cold and came to the padel court to play a tournament.
“Padel has become a passion,” says Marco Otto, who started the new sport around two years ago. “It’s a fast dynamic game.” Padel is more about fun and community than about competition.
Little effort for a lot of fun
Padel is one of the world’s fastest growing sports. The smaller courts are similar to tennis with a net in the middle and two service fields, but similar to squash, the playing field is partially surrounded by glass panes that can be included in the game as a barrier. You play with a short plastic racket.
“The biggest difference to other racquet sports is that you don’t have to invest so much to have fun at all,” Jan Weitzel told DW. “Padel is easier to learn than other sports, especially for children and young people whose frustration tolerance is not yet very high.”
Tennis, for example, according to the youth coach, is much more training-intensive. With padel, however, the first experiences of success are possible after just a few training sessions.
Training is no longer possible
After a little refreshment, things now get serious for the club members present. The first teams are ready and are heading to one of the two padel courts. The club only had the new venues built two years ago; previously the club had focused exclusively on tennis. In the long run, however, this was no longer profitable, because, like other clubs in Germany, demographic change in particular also caused problems for SG Niederwalgern-Wenkbach.
“We had an aging membership structure and dwindling membership numbers, plus few new members. This meant that at some point we were no longer able to offer team games and hardly any training,” explains board member Moritz Blömer in an interview with DW. Interest in traditional tennis has gradually waned.
Blömer: “At some point the thing would have been dead”
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the German population is getting older on average, and the birth rate is falling at the same time. This not only has an impact on the labor market and pensions in Germany, but also means that many sports clubs are gradually losing their foundation.
Older people often withdraw from active club functions, while young members are missing as replacements. Streaming services, social media and video games have surged in popularity, displacing sports and traditional club activities.
“Due to the declining number of members, things might have gone well for another ten years and we could have continued operations,” says Blömer. “But at some point the thing would have been dead.”
The death of clubs has serious social consequences for a society, because clubs offer spaces for interpersonal interaction and promote a sense of community, integration and social skills among people.
“The nice thing about club life is the solidarity,” padel enthusiast Marco told DW. “You meet like-minded people and things often quickly become friendly. You get together and have a lot of fun.”
The club takes a risk and gets into debt
That was also the case with Moritz Blömer when he moved with his family to the small community around 70 kilometers north of Frankfurt am Main 13 years ago. He signed up for the tennis club and quickly connected with the people in town. However, in order to inspire younger people, the club had to change.
“We discovered padel as a trend sport,” explains Blömer. “And we just wanted to try to continue to offer something young, modern and attractive.” Two places should be built initially. The small club took a financial risk for this. “It was an investment that was ten times our account balance,” remembers the 41-year-old. The money finally came together with sponsors, public funding and an increase in membership fees.
Development in Germany is on the right track
For the plan to work, the association needed 30 new members – a large number given the community’s population of just 1,400. However: “Our places here were the first within a 100 kilometer radius. So there was little competition and that seemed feasible for us,” says Blömer. The club advertised on digital channels and organized events to bring the trend sport closer to people outside the local boundaries – with success.
“We now have 80 padel-playing members. Of these, around 40 are former tennis players who switched to padel within the club,” explains Blömer and proudly adds: “As a club, we have grown by around 30 percent in the last two years.”
Young people in particular are joining the club and becoming part of the new padel community. Training takes place twice a week, there is a team registered in the 2nd Padel Bundesliga and tournaments take place regularly. As part of a cooperation, the padel club at the nearby comprehensive school also uses the club’s courts.
Padel is growing rapidly
Figures from the business consulting agency Deloitte show that padel is not only booming regionally in northern Hesse, but throughout Germany and the rest of the world. According to the Global Padel Report from 2024, there were around 10,000 places worldwide in 2016, currently there are almost 50,000 – and the trend continues to rise.
Padel was invented in Mexico in 1965 and was initially slowly adapted in Europe, especially in Spain. Padel is the second most popular sport there after football – with around 16,000 places and more than five million active players. There has been a worldwide professional tour for almost 20 years. The best players come from Spain and Latin America. In Germany, however, the sport is still in its infancy. There are currently almost 600 places here – at least 300 more than in 2022.
The tournament is entering its decisive phase on the courts in Niederwalgern. After the sun has set, the winner is chosen and is duly celebrated with a small fireworks display.
The “analysis” is then carried out on cold and warm drinks. Because the cozy get-together next to the court is at least as important to the club as sport and fun on the padel court.