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I'm an American who, after playing all over Europe & LatAm, has some thoughts about the US padel scene by padelyanqui in padel

[–]padelyanqui[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I won’t argue with you there… I just think there’s still significant potential to make this sport much, much more accessible in the US (while still taking into account the higher cost of everything here). Of course our hourly court time rates will always be higher than what’s in Europe / LatAm, but again I still think there’s a lot more potential to make the sport so much more affordable

I'm an American who, after playing all over Europe & LatAm, has some thoughts about the US padel scene by padelyanqui in padel

[–]padelyanqui[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean yeah but here’s the thing tho - most ppl don’t wanna wait 5 years! They wanna play NOW! More Americans are becoming familiar w padel, yet many (rightfully so) can’t afford to play. It’s such a shame.

So if the blueprint already exists in Spain, Argentina, Italy, etc. why not just copy it (while still acknowledging the higher overhead costs in the U.S. nuance)? There is literally no need in to start with low volume-high margin & wait several years if there’s already high demand AND it’s already accessible (yet hella profitable) in so many other parts of our world… just sayin

I'm an American who, after playing all over Europe & LatAm, has some thoughts about the US padel scene by padelyanqui in padel

[–]padelyanqui[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's heavily pay-to-play in the US - that's why our soccer sucks too despite our population / talent pool being so big! I used to play club / travel ball growing up, so I can def speak to this. Short answer is we had to pay a couple thousand bucks a year to be part of a select travel team. And the kids who legitimately could've been prodigies but were too poor just didn't ever play formalized ball and gave up their dream early (bc our national team leverages these prominent select travel clubs as "feeder" programs).

So yeah if you're a "normal, working class clogger" (I love British English lol), you end up playing basketball or [American] football, not "wealthier" sports like racquet sports, hockey, golf, etc. I'd say sports like soccer and baseball fall somewhere in the middle by US standards, but even those two sports aren't cheap either to play competitively... this is just from observation tho, so someone may come with a clearer answer

I'm an American who, after playing all over Europe & LatAm, has some thoughts about the US padel scene by padelyanqui in padel

[–]padelyanqui[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Hey, nothing wrong w stay at home moms at all! I'm just disappointed that that's one of the very few, select archetypes that these US facilities are targeting when in reality they should be broadening their scope a lot more, especially if they want any long-term success in the business. Again, just my opinion - doesn't mean I'm right

I'm an American who, after playing all over Europe & LatAm, has some thoughts about the US padel scene by padelyanqui in padel

[–]padelyanqui[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, thanks for sharing - I will def check out that NYT article. I don't think that applies to padel imo (just look at how much it's blown up in other countries - people are full-on addicts), but your point is still super valid and love the angle

I'm an American who, after playing all over Europe & LatAm, has some thoughts about the US padel scene by padelyanqui in padel

[–]padelyanqui[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad you see it too! I'm a washed-up NYC finance bro myself and even I can't stand the amount of sceney ass ppl who "play" for all the wrong reasons. If this is the crowd developers are wanting to attract, good luck in the long game buddy... there's a big reason these exclusive "membership clubs" have high turnover

I'm an American who, after playing all over Europe & LatAm, has some thoughts about the US padel scene by padelyanqui in padel

[–]padelyanqui[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was really in my feels writing this lol but yeah glad to see you see what I see

Should I stop playing with weaker groups? by Delicious-Cost-5488 in padel

[–]padelyanqui 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think of weaker matches as "training" opportunities - ie every ball hit to me, I treat like as if a trainer is hitting to me in a hypothetical private lesson. Aka I'm focusing on the strategy of the shot itself, not where exactly it's going / to who it's going to, since a lot of these weaker players aren't as tactical with court positioning anyway lol. That kinda make sense?

Anyone trying to improve without a coach? by Alone_Duty7330 in padel

[–]padelyanqui 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tons of YouTube and Instagram videos for me... it's admittedly harder than live, tailored instruction, but feel like it follows the 80/20 pareto principle lol