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The Manila Padel Club is looking to expand the sport of padel in partnership with golf courses.
The sport of Padel has finally made its way to the Philippines as the Manila Padel Club looks to open its doors at its newly constructed athletic club located in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig.
Introducing a lifestyle called the “New Social”, the Manila Padel Club is an athletic club with the sport of padel front and centre as their main attraction. Alenna Dawn Magpantay, CEO of the Manila Padel Club is bringing together all of the essential sectors — business expertise, financial, technical, and sports development skills to provide fresh strategies of introducing padel to selected locales in the Philippines.
Padel is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports, played by over 20 million players worldwide. It is scored just like regular tennis, but the court used in the padel is enclosed with walls and is 25% smaller than the size of a tennis court. In fact, the game is described as “tennis with walls” or “squash in the sun.” You can easily distinguish this sport from the other racquet sports because padel is played with a “paddle” and the ball is similar to a hybrid tennis ball and wiffle ball, but with a little less pressure.
Alenna Magpantay explained that she is excited about the integration, as this setup opens opportunities to grow padel sports in the Philippines. She believes that the sport can put together new and different audiences since padel can be played in groups of mixed ages.
One of their key strategies is finding ways to attract people by introducing padel as an innovative format of tennis that is fun, sociable, and easy to play.
The Manila Padel Club in BGC, can be found at the 9th Avenue corner (Lane R) and is a 2,000 sq m space, consisting of five (5) padel courts, a fully-equipped outdoor gym with strength and cardio equipment, and an on-site food and beverage service with an al fresco dining area.
Their flagship facility in Manila is a fully-outdoor facility that also include an outdoor gym exclusively for Manila Padel Club members, providing a safe and functional space for working out — an important benefit during this time of pandemic. The gym area measures more than 400 square meters and is easily enough to do your physical training and exercises. Their goal is to help the club members in adjusting and returning to their fitness routine safely without having to worry about the threats of COVID-19 and other air-borne viruses.
Aside from the outdoor gym, the athletic club has incorporated a modern country club feel by opening the Clubhouse Cafe complete with an al fresco dining area overlooking the sports club. It’s a perfect spot for watching padel matches with your friends and family. According to Magpantay, the best way to encourage people to try the sport is by allowing them to see the game firsthand through the outdoor experience.
Their location in BGC is in a strategic area where Alenna and her team can reach a wider community in racket sports. By pioneering this easy-to-play padel sport in the area, the success of this non-power dominant sport is possible because it doesn’t discriminate between age groups or genders. The CEO's vision is to see padel as complementing BGC’s amenities – offering opportunities for the community to play and engage with the social sport.
It is their goal to teach the people of the Philippines how to embrace this fresh, new sport of padel. They envision padel as a recreational pursuit where players of all ages and skill levels can challenge themselves at the level that they feel comfortable playing. It is an easy sport to play and like tennis can be played as singles or doubles, allowing people to coordinate foursomes with their families, friends and colleagues. Of course, individuals are also encouraged to drop in too as they can be paired up with other people for a friendly match, while making new friends in the process.
With these positive attributes, Magpantay belives that padel lends itself well to partnering with golf courses and clubs in the Philippines to create even more of a "country club" atmosphere for the patrons. The amount of land needed for a padel court is 25% less than a tennis court and is not as strenuous as tennis as a player has less ground to cover. With the smaller court area, costs are reduced considerably over a tennis court. So if Alenna Dawn Magpantay and her backers have their way, most golf courses in the Philippines will also offer padel to their members and patrons, expanding the number of patrons that would utilize their golf courses and clubs.
Padel being played under the lights of Manila.
Persons interested in Padel and the Manila Padel Club can contact them via:
email: info@manilapadelclub.com
WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/ManilaPadel
phone: +63 917 705 6467