The 1985 Wimbledon final. This was the first wimbledon final I watched on the TV. Growing up in a small town, I followed every grand slam details on the radio news, but this was the first wimbledon final I got to see minute by minute as it unfolded, after the Television was introduced to my town. The final featured two unseeded players, and heralded the arrival of one of the greatest players of the next decade – Boris Becker.
Like me, millions of youngsters growing up in the 80s followed the grand slams very eagerly. Watching the grand slams inspired one to play this fantastic game as well. However, the game was out of reach for most of us. By the time we got ourselves into a position where we had access to the game, life became too busy with other things, and finally the fitness levels gave way to any possibility of playing Tennis with the same gusto as it was watched and viewed.
For those innumerous youngsters extremely passionate about Tennis, but never played it sufficiently enough, or those who reached an age where fitness levels no more allowed them to play any further, Padel came as a real “second-chance”.
Padel is a game of second chance in many ways.
(1) For those who never played Tennis, here is a chance to begin something like Tennis. A similar stroke, similar rules, similar format, totally playable by any age group or fitness levels.
(2) For those who played Tennis, but had to discontinue because fitness levels didn’t allow one to play without disrupting one’s schedule, here is an alternative which allows you to continue playing something like Tennis yet again.
(3) For those who wanted to play tournaments at various levels, or even represent their countries – here is another chance. The Padel world ank 1 player, Fernando Belasteguin, is 39 years old, as are #5, Matias Dias Sangorgi, and #9 Miguel Lamperti. It is never late to start playing Padel and get into serious tournament play and accomplish a lot.
(4) Those who normally stray from any physical activity or sport, due to poor fitness levels – here is a chance to start a fitness activity – even if it is the first time in life you are doing it. People who zero exposure to other sports, and very poor fitness levels, get cracking with Padel within minutes of getting exposed to the game. It is not a game where you go back disappointed for days after beginning to play the game. You go back with the confidence of having learnt something new and applied it with confidence right in the first session.
(5) The fundamental component of the game that differentiates it from Tennis is based on the idea of second chance – so what if you miss a cracking shot from the opponent. There is plenty of time in the world to watch the ball zoom past you, hit the glass walls, rebound and come back to you at a reasonable speed for you to re-send it cracking past to the opponent once again.
Because of the rebound, the rallies become never-ending. You have plenty of second chances to make up for a missed shot. If you feel any shot is too hard to be taken head-on, you immediately switch on into a mode of projecting its trajectory with all the rebounds that it might take and anticipate the final position where you could hit it again.
It is this inbuilt nature of second chance in the sport of Padel that empowers it to offer you a second chance in life – Give your fitness and sporting aspirations a second chance with Padel. May be you could be representing your country at an international event very soon …
