Is Padel the Next Pickleball?

A passionate group of padel players hopes to bring the sport to life in the Islands.

3 hours ago

Katrina Valcourt,

Ferron Haryanto of Padel Hawai‘i plays a game in Indonesia. Photo: Courtesy of Padel Hawai‘i

It’s the fastest growing racket sport in the world. Wait—haven’t we heard this already?

It’s not pickleball. The latest racket sport generating buzz is padel, which originated in Mexico in the late 1960s and has exploded in popularity throughout Latin America and beyond. (It’s the second-most popular sport in Spain after soccer and may be included in the 2032 Olympics.)

The game is a combination of squash and tennis and requires specific equipment: balls that are slightly smaller and less bouncy than tennis balls, and perforated rackets. Teams of two hit a ball back and forth over a net within an enclosed 66-by-33-foot space bounded by walls.

“It’s like pickleball on steroids,” with additional strategic components because of the walls, says Kelly Yamamoto, a former NCAA Division I tennis player and founding member of Padel Hawai‘i.Yamamoto, who grew up in Kona, has been competing in Indonesia and is hoping to establish the sport locally. There are only three padel courts in Hawai‘i, she says, none of which are on O‘ahu, and all are privately owned.

Ferron Haryanto of Padel Hawai‘i plays a game in Indonesia. Photo: Courtesy of Padel Hawai‘i

Together with partners, “we’re going to bring the first courts” to Honolulu, she says, installing them in high-traffic areas and making them accessible. As of late this summer, three courts were in the works, with hopes of opening this fall. From there, the group will work with interested partners to bring padel to resorts, tennis facilities, golf clubs and other sites.

Married couple MG Bagalso and Jen Nguyen have traveled the world playing everywhere from San Diego to Valencia, Spain; now, they look forward to playing in their own backyard. Nguyen has experience in the real estate world, “so translating those skills over to building this destination would be a dream come true for me,” she says.

Padel Hawai‘i founding partners Jen Nguyen, Kelly Yamamoto and MG Bagalso with Javier Salamanca (second from right), director of Flyte Padel in San Rafael, California. Photo: Courtesy of Padel Hawai‘i

The Padel Hawai‘i team hopes its members’ combined experience and the relationships they’ve built with other players and the companies that sponsor them will contribute to padel taking root here.

“I want to see this court by court, player by player, community by community grow and just follow through into the Islands,” Bagalso says, “because I think it’s the right place, it’s the right time, and Hawai‘i needs it, and we’re ready.”

padel-hawaii.com, @padel_hawaii