Start Padel Tactics from your first match
One of the most appealing things about padel is that players can play matches almost straight away…and so they do! It almost becomes an afterthought to consider learning the technique.
Padel Technique
It is sooooo much easier to learn the correct technique from the start. Take it from a coach – it is much easier to work with a blank canvas and mould the correct technique than trying to change months (and often years) of bad habits.
The common way to do this is – take up padel, enjoy the game, after a number of friendly games decide you want to improve, so try and dabble with some techniques or pieces of advice you have seen someone else give, therefore creating different bad habits. This process usually happens in the weekly social game with friends. There are not usually clear objectives or areas to focus on and therefore the technique gets confused.
If you really want to improve, invest in a few padel lessons (in person or online) to start you off – you would do the same in other sports or to learn a new skill, so treat padel the same way.
Padel Tactics
One of the biggest benefits about separating the padel technique is that you can then primarily focus on tactics in your matches. This is crucial, because tactics are a part of padel so early in your development that you need to understand them as well as the technique. Also, technique does not need to be perfect to implement a good tactic to win a match against better players!
It is difficult to focus on padel technique during a game because you often do not receive a consistent ball (like you might in training). It is also hard to work with your partner in a match (which is an important part of the tactics) if you are constantly focusing on minor technical changes. In our tactics course we actually explain how to find the weaknesses of your opponents and how to work with your partner to take advantage of them.
This is slightly different if you are working with a coach focusing on a single technical area and you use that game to improve this specific area! In this case the match result is not the priority, but the technical focus!
Padel Match Approach
Even if you are mainly playing friendly or recreational games it is worth approaching them with the aim of working on something and preparing professionally for the game. Just having this mindset is means that you can potentially improve every time you play. It also means that you will build up a routine for when you want to play in tournaments or more important matches.
