The first padel court in South Africa was launched at Val De Vie in Paarl on Saturday 2 November 2019, the same day the Springboks were playing in the rugby World Cup final in Japan.

It was a scorching spring’s day to kick off an action-packed sports day, with padel taking centre stage as the new kid on the block. Many people were in attendance, including a world champion himself, Mr Ryk Neetling. Mr Neetling is now Marketing Director at Val De Vie and was the brainchild behind bringing padel to the estate.

Padel SA was there to lend a hand and share our knowledge of the game, helping to get the eager crowd going by explaining the rules and giving a demonstration of how padel is played. We even played a game with Ryk himself, of which we are sure he thoroughly enjoyed.

After a good workout, everyone raced off to their venue of choice to get a good seat to watch the game and what would turn out to be one of the best days in South Africa’s sporting history for not one but two amazing reasons.