Lowri Griffiths tries the UK’s fastest-growing sport for the cost of absolutely nothing during Padel Week’s free taster sessions

London Padel Week is happening across five clubs this week with over fifty events, and when I saw there were free coaching sessions on offer as part of it, I did what any properly broke Londoner would do and turned up to a sport I had never once played in my entire life purely because the word “free” was involved.

Why I Genuinely Had No Business Attempting This Sport

I have never picked up a racket in my life, I do not own appropriate footwear, and my general athletic ability peaked somewhere around age eleven, but none of that mattered because the session cost nothing and I have built an entire identity around saying yes to free things regardless of my actual competence level.

What Actually Happened During My Completely Free Introduction To The UK’s Fastest-Growing Sport

Considerably more fun than I expected, genuinely. The coaches were patient with someone who was visibly encountering a padel racket for the very first time, and the whole social, courtside atmosphere felt considerably less intimidating than I’d braced myself for walking in.

Why This Free Taster Session Model Feels Like Exactly The Kind Of Thing More London Sports Should Be Doing

Because the actual barrier to trying a new sport is so rarely the sport itself and almost always the cost of finding out whether you’d even enjoy it, and Padel Week’s free sessions removed that barrier entirely for someone like me who would never otherwise have paid to find out.

Whether I’m Actually Going To Keep Playing Now That The Free Week Is Over

Genuinely considering it, which is a sentence I did not expect to write about a sport I’d never heard properly explained until this exact week.

What This Whole Experience Reveals About How Much Broke Londoners Are Actually Missing Out On Simply Because Trying Something New Usually Costs Money We Don’t Have

Mostly that free taster access genuinely works, and that more of London’s newer, trendier sports scenes should be doing exactly what Padel Week just did if they actually want people like me involved rather than just watching enviously from the sidelines. More broke London activity discoveries live here on bohiney.com.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com