WOMEN & PADEL — Why More Women Are Finding Their Game
Same court, same walls, same racket — and more women are finding their game. DO→PADEL News Worldwide on padel’s social side, its fitness demands, the research that has studied recreational women players, and why women belong on court.
Published by DO→PADEL™ for Padel News Worldwide
Padel doesn’t need a different version of the game for women.
Same court. Same walls. Same racket. Same competition. Same laughter when a ball comes back off the glass in a direction nobody expected.
And increasingly, women are discovering what makes this sport difficult to put down.
A GAME YOU CAN START PLAYING
One of padel’s great strengths is that enjoyment doesn’t have to wait until you’ve spent months learning the sport.
There is technique to master — plenty of it — but beginners can get onto a court, start rallying, learn together and experience the game from the beginning.
That matters.
For women who haven’t grown up playing racket sports, or who simply don’t fancy walking into an intimidating sporting environment, padel can offer another door into an active life.
FOUR PEOPLE. ONE COURT.
Padel is predominantly doubles.
That means something else happens every time four people walk onto a court: sport becomes social.
You talk. You communicate. You encourage your partner. You compete. You laugh. You meet people.
Women’s Health writer Chloe Burcham described that social element as a major reason she became hooked after taking up padel, writing about the friendships, WhatsApp groups and new people that became part of her experience of the sport.
Her experience is one person’s story — but it illustrates something fundamental about the way padel is played.
People need people. Padel brings four of them together.
FITNESS WITHOUT STANDING ON A TREADMILL
Padel is genuinely physical.
You’re moving forwards and sideways. Stopping. Starting. Turning. Reaching. Reacting. Changing direction and positioning yourself for the next ball.
And because your attention is on the point rather than the clock, exercise can become part of playing rather than the sole reason you’re there.
Scientific research reviewed in the peer-reviewed literature has examined cardiovascular demands, strength, endurance, agility, balance, coordination and other physical-fitness characteristics associated with padel.
That doesn’t make padel a miracle workout.
It makes it a sport that gets you moving.
AND WOMEN HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN STUDIED
This is particularly interesting.
Research included in the scientific review examined recreational adult women who played padel.
Padel players showed better measurements than comparison groups in areas including balance, explosive power, abdominal endurance, cardiovascular capacity and some measures of body composition.
There is an important scientific distinction here.
This was observational research. It does not prove that playing padel caused every difference researchers measured.
But it is encouraging evidence — and another reason researchers are interested in the relationship between padel, physical fitness and health.
THE HEAD GETS INVOLVED TOO
There is another side of padel that doesn’t appear on a fitness tracker.
You have to think.
Where is the ball going?
What will happen when it hits the glass?
Where is your partner?
Where are your opponents?
Should you attack, defend, wait or move?
The game continually asks for concentration, anticipation, coordination and reaction.
And while you’re thinking about all of that, there isn’t much room left for thinking about the email you haven’t answered.
Sometimes being completely absorbed in a game is part of the pleasure.
COMPETITIVE DOESN’T HAVE TO MEAN INTIMIDATING
Women don’t all want the same thing from sport.
Some want serious competition.
Some want exercise.
Some want an evening with friends.
Some want to improve every week.
Some simply want to hit a ball around and have a laugh.
Padel has room for all of them.
And somebody who arrives as a complete beginner can discover a competitive streak she didn’t know she had.
WOMEN BELONG ON THE COURT
There doesn’t need to be a pink version of padel.
Women don’t need a different racket because somebody has decided what women’s sport ought to look like.
What matters is something much simpler:
seeing women playing.
Beginners and professionals. Teenagers and grandmothers. Friends playing socially. Women competing seriously. Coaches. Club owners. Mothers playing with daughters. Women walking onto a court for the first time.
Because the more normal that becomes, the less anybody has to ask whether padel is a sport for women.
It already is.
FIND YOUR GAME
Maybe you want fitness.
Maybe you want competition.
Maybe you want friendship.
Maybe you’ve never held a padel racket.
Maybe you’re already obsessed.
There is room on the court.
PLAY • IMPROVE • TOGETHER.
Together We Are Stronger.
SOURCES
This is an original DO→PADEL News Worldwide editorial.
Scientific findings and third-party reporting referenced in this article are attributed to their original sources. DO→PADEL did not conduct the cited research and does not claim authorship of it.
Scientific source:
Bernardino J. Sánchez-Alcaraz & Javier Courel-Ibáñez, “The Role of Padel in Improving Physical Fitness and Health Promotion: Progress, Limitations, and Future Perspectives”. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022;19(11):6582.
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19116582
PMCID: PMC9180804
PMID: 35682167
Third-party reporting referenced:
Chloe Burcham, “I’ve played padel every week for 4 months, here’s why it’s so good”, Women’s Health, updated 5 July 2024.
Scientific findings are presented with their limitations. Nothing in this article is medical advice.
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