Court and Equipment: Padel is played on an enclosed court roughly 25% smaller than a tennis court, with walls where balls can be played off. The paddle is solid with no strings, and the ball is similar to a tennis ball but with slightly less pressure. Rackets will be available at the courts for you to play with (so no need to bring your own unless you would like to!)

Serving: The serve must be underhand, starting with the ball being bounced on the server’s side and then hit below waist height. The serve must first bounce in the opponents opposite diagonal service box.

Scoring: Scoring in padel follows the same format as tennis, which is 15, 30, 40, and game. For this tournament, we will be playing golden points which means if it is 40/40 (deuce) then then you have one advantage play. If it goes back to deuce, then it's a golden point, which means the next point – that team wins that game. For the golden point, the team receiving the serve is allowed to choose who receives the serve (only for golden point). When you have played your 13 minutes, you will give the total of all games won to the score keeper (i.e. if your team won 3 games and then other team won 2, then those are the points that go towards your team).

Points Play: After the serve, players can return the ball either before or after it has bounced off the walls (but not the metal fences), similar to squash. The ball must be returned to the opponent's side, and points are constructed using volleys, smashes, and groundstrokes.

Double Bounce: The ball must not bounce more than once on one side; the second bounce on the floor is out.

Walls: Players can use their own walls to play the ball but must return it directly over the net or after it has touched their own wall.

Boundaries: If the ball hits the fence without first touching the ground on the opponent's side, it is out. The same rule applies if the ball goes out of the court boundaries after being hit.

The most NB rule: HAVE FUN! If in doubt about anything, just replay the point 😊