Regional Recreation Trends: Paddle Tennis

In select parts of this country, if it’s 20 or 30 degrees outside, it’s time for paddle tennis. Chicago’s North Shore, New England and many of the well-established country clubs across our northern climes have participated in this recreational activity for decades.

The sport of paddle tennis—also known as platform tennis, or more simply “paddle” is growing.  Already some 7,000 self-identified players descend upon Chicago’s 125 courts, with more platforms in the works. A staple of the Northern and Western Chicago suburbs, Glenview’s Prairie Club became one of the first facilities in the area to offer public courts, with 87 percent of residents wanting to add paddle tennis facilities in a new area of the golf club, according to a park district survey.  

The Game

Paddle tennis is that rare sport that is as fun and easy as it looks. Basically, the game is mini-doubles tennis played with over-sized ping pong paddles on a raised court surrounded by a wire cage. A hybrid of tennis and racquetball in appearance (the court with a halfway net is about a third the size of a tennis court and a similar ball and scoring system are used; the walls, however, are in-play like in racquetball), novices and veterans both liken the actual gameplay to squash, with its tight quarters and nimble maneuvering. Though unlike squash, the game is easy to pick up, giving most anyone a chance to come in off the sidelines and play right away.   

Paddle tennis’s hallmark feature might just be that it is, oddly, a winter sport. The “platform” on which the court sits facilitates its heating, which prevents any accumulation of snow or ice, allowing players to get outside on the coldest of winter days for some fresh air and exercise.

For those players between matches or spectators just catching a game or two, there is the warming hut, which may be considered almost as important as the court itself. Originally designed as modest structures where a few players could keep warm before and after a match, warming huts now encompass a larger more social vision.

Many private clubs with paddle tennis have built free-standing structures with wide open social layouts, fireplaces, built-in seating indoor and out, kitchens and bathrooms—places, in general, that will keep players comfortable and promoting social interaction.

Some of these huts loom so large as to suggest their own nickname, as at the Myopia Hunt Club, in Hamilton, Mass., where “Taj MaHut” holds court. Often a part of league play, where the post game food and drink observances are as much anticipated as the game itself, these matches take on a social and rambunctious cast.

Indeed, the social aspect of the game adds just another element to its appeal. The proximity of players on the court with the nearby social hub at the hut, stocked with beverages and eats, tournaments and games become events in their own right. 

Paddle tennis of course is played in summer too. But there is no shortage of outdoor recreational options in summer, so it stands to reason that the game really takes flight when these other competitors go into hibernation.

Paddle Outlook

Paddle tennis has been largely preserved and cultivated by private clubs—giving the sport its unique charm, its social overlay and its unparalleled blend of fun, competition and bonhomie. The game is growing within the private club industry as well. According to Club Benchmarking data, only 4 percent of clubs offered paddle tennis in 2009, but by 2013, 14 percent had facilities on their premises. [PM1] As a sport poised to emerge on the national stage as something akin to the people’s racquet sport, paddle tennis may be about to expand beyond the private club orbit.

Private clubs are well positioned to provide paddle tennis facilities that stand a head above the rest. Paddle may also serve to strengthen the reserves of social capital that bind members of the club together, as well sparking a bit of friendly rivalry across city and regional clubs. And so the circle grows. 

NEW ENGLAND PADDLE TENNIS CLUB LEAGUES

The Greater Boston Platform Tennis League (GBPTL) has expanded remarkably over its 37-year history from five clubs, in 1978, to its current 12-team format. The GBPTL is comprised of its flagship A league—teams whose rosters often include former national champions and who battle it out each year for the right to hoist the Burke Cup—as well as B and C leagues to test the skills of less accomplished players

Here’s a brief look at how the league shapes up:

The 2014 champions, Weston, defeated Concord on a cold wet evening in March. For more information, visit http://www.paddlepro.com/gbptl/