Padel-ing with the trend: growing racquet sport serves up centre proposal

The Hunter could soon welcome one of Australia's largest indoor padel centres as the racquet sport continues its exponential growth.

Tribe Club has submitted a development application to Lake Macquarie City Council for a seven-court indoor padel centre at Gateshead.

The development, known as Padel & Wellness Newcastle, is proposed for an industrial warehouse at 49 Oakdale Road and would also include a cafe for members and a sauna.

Padel is a racquet sport, commonly described as a cross between tennis and squash.

The sport originated in Mexico in 1968 and has long been popular in Latin American countries but, in more recent years, has exploded in Europe and North America.

It's become the second-most popular participation sport in Spain, behind soccer, and the US Padel Association forecasts there may be 30,000 courts in the country by 2030.

A fellow racquet sport, pickleball, is more established in Australia and already has a strong following in Newcastle with 12 courts opening at District Park Tennis, in Broadmeadow, earlier this year.

Padel is generally played as doubles on an area much smaller than a tennis court. The court size is 10 by 20 metres for doubles and is enclosed with glass walls.

Players can rebound the ball off the glass walls, creating a different dimension of shots and rallies.

Padel has been played in Australia since 2016, and former tennis world No.1 and two-time US Open winner Pat Rafter is an ambassador of the fledgling sport.

There are 43 padel courts in NSW, predominantly in Sydney.

The Racquet Club in Canberra was opened last year for padel and pickleball with the former host of The Voice Australia, Darren McMullen, one of the owners.

Tribe Club's founder and chief executive Matt Barrelle is known as "the Godfather" of the sport and was the inaugural president of the Australian Padel Federation.

Later this month, Tribe will open its seven-court indoor padel club in Melbourne, and another centre in Adelaide is being built.

Tribe's Sydney five-court outdoor centre at Ryde is established, and also features wellness and recovery facilities, including a sauna, a cold plunge, and a compression lounge.

The proposed Gateshead centre would be open 5am to 11pm, seven days a week, with the expected peak demand from 5am to 7am and 6pm to 9pm, Monday to Friday.

The centre has planned for 31 car parking spaces, including one accessible spot at the front of the building.

Tribe Club and Padel Australia were approached for comment.