I phoned my friend, Jenny, asking her if she wanted to join in for a game of padel. I had a court booked for the afternoon and we needed an extra player to make up a foursome. Jenny was stunned. She thought that padel was a summer-only sport and the courts were locked up until spring. Not so, and what’s more, our village courts are out of the wind and get the afternoon sun. Just perfect for a clear sky winters day.
Can you play padel in winter? Padel can and does get played in winter. As long as the court is dry you can even play padel outside in winter. Many of the larger cities have indoor padel courts that are always very busy in winter. Make sure you are warmly dressed and use newer padel shoes for a better grip on cold court surfaces.
Even though the World Padel Tour has an off-season from the last week of December through to mid-March, padel is most definitely a year-round sport. You do need to make a couple of adjustments in terms of clothing and equipment. Let’s take a close look at those.
Be Prepared
The Value Of Layered Clothing
I remember once playing padel on a, particularly crisp morning. The snow was covering all the hills surrounding our village and the temperature was just a couple of degrees above freezing. I made the mistake of dressing like an Everest mountaineer with my thick, padded, winter jacket over my normal summer technical sport shirt.
Before long I was boiling in my winter jacket but was still too cold to strip down to a thin summer t-shirt. Lesson learned.
It is by far a wiser idea to layer up clothing so that you can systematically shed layers as you get warmer and warmer. You also have layers to add back on as needed when you take rest breaks during your game of padel.
Never Neglect A Thorough Warm-Up
Warming up before a game of padel is always important. However, in crisp winter conditions, it is even more important. I know that for me it is my calf muscles that get tight while playing padel if I neglect a warm-up.
There is more to warming up before a wintertime game of padel than just your body. A cold padel ball hardly has any bounce at all. If you are playing in an area that is prone to having snow nearby then it is even more of an issue.
Hitting the padel ball back and forth for a couple of minutes before a game starts will warm the ball slightly. As the padel ball warms it will start to regain some internal pressure and consequently bounce better.
The Best Time Of Year For New Shoes
My friend Jenny found this amusing, teasing me that any time of year is the best time of year for new shoes.
New padel shoes have a vastly superior grip on the AstroTurf court surface, compared to well-worn padel shoes.
The moment the padel court surface gets a little damp from the evening or early morning dewfall, it gets very slippery. The same goes for when the court has not fully dried out after the rain.
The extra grip from your new padel shoes can make the difference between an enjoyable game and hobbling off the court with a pulled muscle after an unnecessary slip.
Be Aware Of Shady Parts Of The Court
Many padel clubs position their courts to be North facing in order to give some degree of shade early or late in the day during the scorching summers.
However, those same shady areas are likely to not get any sun at all during the colder and wetter winter months. This means areas of the court that will remain slippery throughout the winter.
Take extra care on these courts as your under-shoe grip will vary depending on where you are on the court.
Wet Padel Balls Cause Injuries
Early morning or late afternoon dewfall can make both the glass walls and the court surface damp. This moisture easily transfers to the fuzzy outer layer of the padel ball. The same applies to padel courts that have not dried properly after it has rained.
When the fuzzy outer layer of a padel ball gets wet, the ball becomes a lot heavier. If you attempt to continue playing padel with these wet and heavy balls, you will create a very big impact force on the padel racket every time you hit the ball.
That impact is absorbed by your wrist and elbow. Therefore repeatedly hitting a wet padel ball will create repeated shock forces to your wrist and elbow resulting in an almost certain injury.
If you intend to play padel on a damp court bring a couple of extra sets of padel palls with you so that you can swap out the wet balls for dry replacements.
Rackets And Balls Are Affected By Cold Temperatures
The EVA foam inner core of a padel racket becomes more rigid in the cold. This means that your padel racket will not have the same degree of flex at the area of impact with the mall. This not only affects how the padel ball “feels” on the racket but to will also slow down the speed at which the ball leaves the racket.
The same applies to padel balls. In low temperatures, their internal pressure reduces resulting in them losing their bounce and behaving like old, flat, padel balls even if they are straight out of the canister. The good news here is that if you hit the balls hard during your pre-game warm-up the balls will start heating up a bit and they will start to regain their bounce.
Air Dry Wet Padel Balls Before Storage
If your padel balls do get damp or wet during a game of padel, please do not put the damp or wet balls back in the canister for storage until your next game. The canisters for your padel balls are airtight, meaning that your padel balls will stay wet. That means that you will be greeted by wet and smelly padel balls at the start of your next game of padel.
The best option will be to thoroughly air dry your padel balls before returning them to the canister for storage.
Be Sure To Warm Down And Stretch After A Game In Winter
After you have completed your game of padel in the colder winter temperatures it is important to warm down properly and to do some stretching while your muscles are still warm. This will squeeze out any lactic acid that has collected in your muscles and save you days of muscle stiffness.
Likewise, layer up quickly again after coming off the court, even before you may feel like you need the extra layer. Your skin will cool very quickly and be cold while your core may still feel warm.
Find An Indoor Court
Many of the padel clubs in larger centers have indoor courts. These are very popular in winter as they tend to be a lot warmer than outside.
If these are available to you then take your games of padel inside and you will not need to base your days and times for a game of padel around what the weather may or may not be doing.
If you are lucky enough to be able to play padel indoors through the winter be sure to dress up for the icy blast that will hit you as you step out of the indoor padel center at the end of your game.
Whether you are lucky enough to have a nice warm indoor padel court at your disposal or not, there is no reason at all to stop playing padel during winter. Padel is a sport that can be played in all twelve months of the year.
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