Padel& opening in Syosset brings new sport to Long Island

Lacrosse, golf and tennis are three sports that are regularly played on Long Island. Make room for padel, a racket-based game that combines squash and tennis, which is opening in Syosset on Saturday via a new club called Padel&.

"What we love about padel is that it naturally brings people together," co-owner Rikard Hellqvist says. "Our idea was to build clubs where the focus isn’t only on the courts, but also on the community around them."

Padel is played two-on-two on a turf-based court that is about one-third the size of a tennis court enclosed by glass walls and uses the same points system as tennis. The sport was invented in Mexico in 1969 by Enrique Corcuera and then spread to Spain and Argentina, where it is played by people of all ages.

PADEL POSITIVE

Hellqvist, along with his brother, Markus, founded their first padel club in their hometown of Stockholm, then they started 80 clubs throughout Europe as well as one in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, last year.

"Padel has this incredible effect where people try it once and immediately want to play again," Hellqvist says. "It’s one of the few sports where beginners can feel successful right away."

The Syosset facility is approximately 17,000 square feet with 25-foot ceilings containing four indoor courts, viewing areas for spectators, a lounge, a pro shop and locker room facilities with saunas plus cold plunges. Additionally, the club offers a warmup area with a rebounder trampoline, weights, kettlebells, medicine balls and a vibration plate.

MORE THAN A SPORT

The ampersand in the club's name suggests that it is more than just about playing padel, with community events in the works, including a Padel& pasta night.

When asked why they chose Syosset as their Long Island location, Hellqvist says, "The area has a strong sports culture and a very active community, with many people who already play tennis or other racket  sports. We also saw a great opportunity to introduce padel to a new audience. In our experience, once people try the sport, they tend to fall in love with it very quickly. Syosset felt like the perfect place to bring that experience to Long Island, especially since it’s located in the Long Island Sports Hub, already a go-to place for kids and adults that are into sports like hockey, basketball and soccer."

Memberships are offered but you don’t have to be a member to play there. To become a member, there’s a one-time initiation fee of $275 plus a monthly charge: $100 for an individual, $175 for couples and $250 for a family (two adults, one child). Members get priority booking, discounted rates, two free guest passes each month for one hour, one free open-play per month and a founding member T-shirt.