How to find people to play padel with in the UK

Padel is easy to pick up and hard to organise. You need four people, at roughly the same level, free at the same time, with a court available. Plenty of new players have one keen friend and nobody else, and the game stalls there.

UK clubs and booking apps have built a lot of ways round this, and most of them work even if you don’t know a single other player.

Start with your nearest venue

Almost every route to regular games runs through a club or venue, so find out what yours offers. If you’re not sure which venues are within reach, the court finder maps them with booking links. Then look at the venue’s booking page or app listings for anything labelled social, mix-in, Americano, open play or beginners’ night. Many venues also have a members’ group chat or noticeboard where players look for a fourth.

Most venues let non-members book. Membership tends to buy you earlier booking windows and cheaper courts, and sometimes access to members-only leagues and ladders. If you end up playing somewhere every week, ask what’s included.

Turn up to a social

Social sessions are built for exactly this problem. You book as one person, the organiser sorts out partners and courts, and you rotate through the group over an hour or two. By the end you’ve played alongside most of the people there.

They go by different names (Americano, Mexicano, King of the Court, open play) and each scores a little differently. For finding partners, the format matters less than going back to the same session regularly. Seeing the same faces each week is how a group of four comes together. Women-only socials work the same way, and the women’s padel guide covers where to find them.

Join an open match in an app

Booking apps let players list a game with empty places for others to fill. On Playtomic, which a large share of UK venues use for bookings, these are called open matches. Someone books a court, sets a level range, and anyone whose level fits can join until there are four.

A few things make open matches go smoothly:

• Set your level honestly in your profile. A match listed for 2 to 3 is for players in that range, and joining well above or below it makes for a poor game.
• Check whether the match is friendly or competitive. Competitive results change your app level; friendly ones don’t.
• Expect to pay your share when you join, and turn up on time. Dropping out late leaves three people with a court they’ve already paid for.

You can also create your own open match. Book a court, list it with a level range, and let the app fill the spaces. Book a few days ahead if you can, since more people will see it. New to the apps altogether? The guide to booking a court explains how the main systems work.

Book group coaching

Group lessons are a sensible place to start if you’re new, and they double as a way to meet players at your own level. The LTA points out that people who meet in coaching groups often go on to book games together outside the sessions.

Look for a regular weekly group, not a one-off taster, so you see the same players each time. Many venues run beginner and improver groups on weekday evenings and weekend mornings, and the LTA’s coach finder lists accredited padel coaches if your venue doesn’t run its own. Wheelchair users and disabled players can look for inclusive sessions, which our guide to adaptive and wheelchair padel explains.

Try a box league or ladder

Once you’re comfortable rallying and keeping score, club competitions give you a fixed list of people to play. They come in a few common shapes:

• Individual box leagues, where you enter on your own, join a small group of players at a similar level, and partner each of them in turn over a few weeks.
• Pairs leagues, where you enter with a partner and play a small group of other pairs, with promotion and relegation at the end.
• Ladders, where you challenge pairs above you and swap places if you win.

Individual box leagues are especially good for meeting people, since the whole point is that you play with someone new each week. Some venues and operators run leagues open to non-members, usually split into bands by app level.

If you’d like something more formal, LTA graded tournaments start at Grade 5, the LTA’s local tour for players new to competition. The LTA says most of its padel competitions let you enter without a partner and will team you up with someone on the day, though it’s best to check with the organiser first. There’s more on how UK competition is organised in the padel in the UK guide.

Find a local group online

Outside clubs, a lot of padel is organised by players themselves. Search social media and messaging apps for padel groups in your town or area. Members post games with a space to fill, and some groups run their own socials too.

Try your workplace as well. Padel suits a team social because four people fit on one court and beginners can rally quickly, so a work group is often the start of a regular game. If nobody has started one, you could.

Keeping a regular four together

Getting one good game is the first step. Keeping it going is mostly about making it easy for everyone:

• Book a standing slot, same day and time each week, so nobody has to arrange it from scratch.
• Keep a short list of reserves for when someone drops out. With five or six names behind the four, a dropout rarely means a cancelled game.
• Split the court fee through the booking app, or agree who pays which week, so money never becomes awkward.
• Rotate partners within the four now and then, so the same pair isn’t always on the losing side.

And be someone people want to text back. Turn up on time, call the score, make fair line calls and leave a lost game on the court. Most of padel etiquette comes down to that, and the player who’s easy company gets asked again long before the player with the best smash.

Next on the blogPadel rackets for lighter players: weight, balance, grip size and softness