Even the Best Players in the World Need Unique and Focused Coaching
When it comes to getting lessons for padel, the longer you wait, the worse it’s going be. It’s better if you rip off the plaster off sooner rather than later!
In this article, we want to encourage you to start lessons. Our aim isn’t to scare you into them, but we do want to share what could happen if you skip this level of personalized education.
And better yet, there’s no reason to avoid padel lessons. They are actually a fun way to improve your skill level.
Everyone gets stuck or plateaus at some point, it’s impossible to avoid. If you skip lessons and try to figure it out yourself, you’ll likely develop bad habits that will take even longer for a coach to help you fix.
What we’ve seen across a variety of players in various countries is the same bad habit of waiting far too long to get help…
Inevitably, this happens:
“Ahh! I did it again. Sorry guys.” Tom says sadly as skyrockets the ball three courts over.
Tom’s friends sigh and wait painfully as Tom runs off the court for the seventh time to pick up the ball he sent soaring. He had tried to smash a ball he should have let bounce off the glass… AGAIN.
“I’ll figure it out eventually.” Tom says as he rejoins them on the court. His friends roll their eyes; they’ve heard it all before.
Andy speaks up, “Tom, you really need lessons, mate. You can’t keep playing tennis on the padel court.”
Tom’s visibly upset, but his wheels start turning and he thinks, “Right! Maybe they’re right… Maybe it’s time I get padel lessons after all.”
Tom finally shows up for his first padel lesson, and his coach immediately sizes up the situation. Tom’s swing is all wrong, he’s afraid of the glass, and he’s still using a semi-western tennis grip. Uh oh.
Eventually, Tom improves and can play with Andy and his friends again.
Sadly, most friends won’t be as candid as Andy was to Tom. Most people won’t tell you to get lessons. It’s much worse than that…
They’ll just stop playing with you. No more invites to padel games, events, and other tournaments for you. Nobody really wants to play with someone who’s stuck in a loop, making the same mistakes.
The sooner you decide to have lessons, the sooner your skill level will rise along with your friends and the people you like playing with.
Avoid the inevitable plateau by prioritizing your personal learning.
The cool thing is that lessons come in many forms; it doesn’t just have to be one-on-one sessions on court with a coach.
There a variety of strategies for learning padel:
- Watching a recording of your padel game and having a coach analyze it for you. We regularly post match analysis videos on our YouTube playlist here.
2. Not playing a match with your friends and instead doing drills. I know this suggestion sounds almost blasphemous in the padel world, but if you only ever play with the same three people all the time, you might not be growing in skill. Take 20-30 minutes out of your reserved court time and practice a few drills together and help each other grow.
3. Group lessons with a coach – join a padel focused clinic.
4. One-on-one lessons to break bad habits and learn technical skills.
5. Use video lessons to give yourself areas to focus on! There are quite a few on our YouTube and some great step-by-step courses on our website!
We’ve found that the players who grow the quickest use a combination of the above. They are not afraid to ask for feedback so they can improve.
So, don’t delay any longer. Schedule your next lesson, record your upcoming match, and reach out with questions. We are always here to help.
Cheers!
