Why I'm Building Padelholm

Everywhere I go, I see padel

A few months ago, while traveling in Bali, I stumbled upon a padel court. I couldn’t resist. After picking up a pair of knock-off Asics and booking a lesson with the local pro, I found myself playing halfway across the world in Seminyak. I joined their WhatsApp group and was soon receiving nightly invites to matches. (They were always looking for a fourth player.) 

A few weeks later, I was in Seoul on a business trip. Curious if padel fever had spread there, I discovered a facility had opened just the year before. I couldn’t book a court because of the language barrier on the website, but finding those courts was another reminder of how fast this sport is growing. From Bali to Seoul, padel is popping up everywhere. Especially on my instagram feed.

But here’s the thing–while the excitement around padel is palpable, when I go online to find what shoes to buy or places to play, I am always left wanting more. I’ve been desperately trying to play this weekend, but my normal group is out of town and the courts are booked too.

Despite the sport’s rapid expansion, connecting with like-minded players who share the same passion for padel isn’t always easy. Celebrities are playing it, athletes are hooked, and yet it still feels niche enough that finding padel information can be a challenge.

That’s when I realized there was an opportunity to build something that’s missing, something that curates the content and culture of padel, something I need.

The Explosive Growth of Padel: Why Now is the Time

Padel’s growth over the past few years has been nothing short of explosive. Today, over 25 million people are playing the sport in more than 110 countries, with this surge mainly happening in the past five years. The global padel market is projected to grow more than 20% annually for the next several years. Padel courts are opening at breakneck speed, with an average increase of 25% more courts each year, especially in Europe and Latin America.

Padel is experiencing what Malcolm Gladwell might call a “tipping point”; it’s at a pivotal moment. The sport is ready to explode globally, but it needs a space where passionate players can come together to shape its future.

The padel boom hasn’t been driven by televised matches—the usual venue for sports culture formation. Instead, it’s been fueled by user-generated content on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Influencers and athletes are showcasing the sport directly to their followers, bypassing the filters of TV networks and professional commentators. @thesangill has amassed a following of almost 60k fans, all from posting videos about padel (my favorite is when he plays with a frying pan.) Padel’s culture is being shaped in real time by these creators, who are connecting with fans on a personal level and helping the sport go global without the need for a middleman. 

But here’s what’s critical: while padel is thriving in places like Spain, Argentina, and increasingly in urban hubs worldwide, the U.S. market is still catching up. Cities like New York are scrambling to meet the growing demand for courts, and with padel players skewing young, urban, and affluent, the opportunity to capture this moment is ripe. This creates a unique opportunity to become the go-to companion app for the next generation of sports culture.

The time is now to create a community that mirrors the culture and energy of this new generation of players—those who are as comfortable using apps to source romantic relationships as they are using their phones to pay for coffee.

A Curated Community for True Fans

I didn’t want to build just another online forum or chat group—I wanted to create something that blends the best of both worlds. Padelholm is more than a platform; it’s an online clubhouse for serious padel players. Think of it as ‘Meetup for millennials’, but with a twist: membership is only granted to those who have been vetted for their commitment to the sport. It’s a platform designed specifically to cultivate a diehard community of true fans. (This is a concept borrowed from Kevin Kelly’s idea that 1,000 true fans are all you need to launch a successful new product.)

The platform is built around three core pillars:

• People: Discussion groups and forums where vetted players can share their passion for the game.

• Places: Maps and guides to the best padel courts and hangouts, from New York to Miami to Paris

• Things: Curated recommendations on the best gear, from shoes for blue Mondo courts to functional bags for commuting.

Padelholm is for the true fans of the sport, those who want more than just casual chats—they want to be part of something bigger. Our founding members are the dedicated players who’ll help shape the future of the platform, just as they are helping to shape the future of padel itself.

A Blueprint for Something Bigger

Padel is at its tipping point, and I built Padelholm because there wasn’t a space that truly reflected the energy and potential of this sport at this critical juncture. Television is no longer the gatekeeper of sports culture; niche interests like padel can grow exponentially thanks to platforms like YouTube and TikTok, where communities form around shared passions. Padel’s demographic—urban, young, sporty, and affluent—requires technology that mirrors the way they create and consume culture, online and geographically agnostic.

Padelholm blends the real-time interaction of WhatsApp chat groups with the community-driven feel of Reddit, but in a curated environment designed intentionally for the sport of padel. It’s about reimagining how millennials and Gen Z experience and build communities online.

But my vision doesn’t stop there. I hope Padelholm will become a blueprint for other niche community clubhouses—what I like to call Clubholms—for interests ranging from sailing to antiquing to any unique lifestyle imaginable. Together, we’re crafting a new paradigm for interest-based membership and leisure.

If you’re as passionate about padel as I am and want to get in early, please request an invitation at padelholm.com. We’re accepting a limited number of founding members, so if you’ve been searching for a padel community, this is the place to start.

See you in the clubhouse,

Russell and the Padelholm Team