What do you need to play padel? The complete beginner’s checklist

If you’ve booked your first padel game and immediately started wondering whether you need a new racket, specialist shoes, three different types of grip and a bag that looks big enough for a weekend away, the good news is: you really don’t.

Padel is actually a pretty easy sport to get started with. For your first few games, you mainly need a racket, balls, suitable shoes, comfortable clothes and something to drink. Most clubs can help with at least some of that too, particularly racket hire.

Then, as you inevitably go from “I’ll give padel a go” to having three games booked next week, there are a few things that start making a lot more sense.

Padel beginner’s checklist

• Padel racket

• Padel balls

• Suitable shoes

• Comfortable clothing

• Sports socks

• Water bottle

• Overgrip

• Towel or spare layer

• Padel bag

• Court booking and three other players

Each one is worth understanding before you start spending money on things you might not actually need.

Do you need your own padel racket?

No. You definitely don’t need to buy your own racket before your first game.

Most padel clubs offer racket hire, and if you’re playing with friends who already play, there’s also a good chance somebody has a spare one floating around in the boot of their car.

Hiring is actually a sensible place to start.

Padel rackets vary quite a lot in shape, balance, weight and feel. When you’re completely new to the sport, spending £250 on whichever racket your favourite professional uses probably won’t tell you much apart from the fact that you now own a £250 racket.

Play a few times first.

Once you understand whether you prefer something light and forgiving or something with a little more weight and power behind it, buying your own becomes much easier.

For most people, that point arrives fairly quickly.

Are padel balls different from tennis balls?

Yes. Padel balls look almost identical to tennis balls, but they aren’t quite the same.

The main difference is pressure. Padel balls generally have slightly lower internal pressure, which changes the way they bounce and helps suit the smaller court and enclosed style of the game. They’re also a few millimetres smaller.

You probably wouldn’t notice much difference holding the two next to each other.

You will notice once you start playing.

For your first game, check whether the club provides balls or whether someone in your group already has some. A three-ball tube is normally all you need for a standard game.

And no, you don’t need to arrive with twelve.

You’re playing padel, not supplying Wimbledon.

What shoes should you wear for padel?

For your first game, a supportive pair of sports or tennis shoes will normally be enough.

What you want to avoid is footwear that feels unstable when moving sideways or gives you very little control when stopping and changing direction.

That becomes more important than beginners sometimes expect.

Padel isn’t just running forwards and backwards. You’re constantly moving laterally, turning, stopping, accelerating towards the net and recovering back towards the glass.

Once you're playing regularly, proper padel or suitable tennis shoes become one of the first upgrades genuinely worth making.

The right sole also depends on the court surface, so there isn’t one perfect shoe for every player and every court.

If you’ve already invested in a decent pair, we’ve gone into more detail on how to get the most out of your padel shoes.

What should you wear to play padel?

You don’t need specialist padel clothing to play your first game.

A breathable sports top and comfortable shorts will do the job perfectly well.

Nobody is standing at reception checking whether your shorts have been officially approved for padel.

But there is a reason clothing becomes more noticeable the more you play.

Padel involves lunging, rotating, reaching, sprinting and changing direction constantly. Clothing that feels absolutely fine walking around the gym can suddenly become quite irritating when you’re reaching into the corner for a low ball.

Then there’s the second ball.

When you serve in padel, you’ll normally keep another ball in your pocket. That sounds like an unbelievably minor detail until you spend an entire game with a ball trying to escape your shorts every time you move.

It’s one of the reasons we became interested in the difference between padel clothing and normal gym clothing in the first place.

Good padel clothing shouldn't make you think about what you're wearing.

It should let you move freely, keep the things you need where they're supposed to be and generally stay out of your way.

That thinking sits behind our Pro Collection, rather than simply sticking a padel logo onto normal sportswear and calling it a day.

Do you need special socks for padel?

No. A normal pair of decent sports socks is completely fine when you're starting out.

But socks are another one of those things that become surprisingly noticeable once you start playing more.

There’s a lot of stopping and changing direction in padel, so your foot can move around inside the shoe far more than it might during a normal gym session.

A good sports sock should help manage moisture, sit securely around your foot and reduce unnecessary movement inside the shoe.

Grip socks take that a little further by helping your foot stay more planted within the shoe.

They’re not something we'd tell somebody they need before their first-ever game.

But if you’re playing regularly and constantly adjusting your foot inside your shoe, they start making considerably more sense.

That’s exactly what our Padel Source Grip Socks were designed for.

How much water should you bring to padel?

Bring more than the tiny bottle you normally convince yourself will be enough.

Padel games are usually played over an hour or 90 minutes, and although the court is relatively small, you can cover quite a lot of ground without really noticing it.

A reusable bottle of around 750ml to 1 litre is a sensible starting point for most sessions, with more needed in hot conditions or during longer games.

Outdoor summer padel deserves particular respect here.

An enclosed glass court, very little shade and a sunny afternoon can make your friendly game feel considerably less friendly after 45 minutes.

Start hydrated and bring enough to drink throughout the session.

Do you need an overgrip for padel?

You don't necessarily need one for your first game, but overgrips are one of the cheapest and most useful accessories in padel.

An overgrip wraps around the handle of your racket and gives you a cleaner, more secure surface to hold.

Over time, grips absorb sweat and lose their tackiness.

If you find yourself squeezing the racket harder because it feels like it might leave your hand during a smash, changing the grip is probably preferable to launching your racket towards somebody on the next court.

Some players also use extra overgrips to increase the thickness of the handle.

That comes down to preference.

If you're hiring a racket for your first session, you probably don't need to worry about any of this yet.

Should you bring a towel or spare layer to padel?

They aren't essential, but both are useful.

A small towel is particularly handy during longer or hotter sessions, especially if your hands get sweaty.

A spare layer depends much more on where you're playing.

Indoor courts are usually straightforward.

Outdoor padel in Britain is slightly more ambitious.

You can arrive in sunshine, start playing in wind and finish the session wondering whether you played in the North Pole.

A lightweight layer before and after the game is rarely a bad idea.

In colder weather, warming up properly matters too. You don't want the first time your body discovers you're playing padel to be while sprinting towards the net after somebody hits a drop shot.

Do you need a padel bag?

No.

A padel bag is useful once you start carrying your own racket, balls, water, spare clothing, grips and everything else you gradually accumulate.

For your first few games, a normal backpack is absolutely fine.

Dedicated padel bags generally provide specific racket compartments and additional space for shoes and equipment, which becomes useful if you're playing frequently.

Until then, don't overthink it.

A racket under one arm and a backpack containing your stuff has successfully transported many people to a padel court.

What do you need to actually book a game of padel?

Usually, one court and four players.

Padel is predominantly played as doubles, so the normal setup is two players on each side of the net.

You book the court for a set period, commonly 60 or 90 minutes, and split the cost between the four of you.

If you don't already know three other people who play, don't let that stop you.

A lot of clubs run beginner sessions, social matches, WhatsApp groups, leagues or matchmaking systems that help players find games at a similar level.

This is actually one of the best things about padel.

You can start with three friends, but it doesn't normally take long before the original group chat becomes several group chats, you're playing with people you've never met before and somebody is trying to organise a game at 7am on a Wednesday. Luke and I are part of countless padel chats…

That's usually the point at which the problem has started.

So, what do you actually need for your first padel game?

Much less than you probably think.

If you've got access to a racket, some padel balls, suitable shoes, comfortable sports clothing and enough water, you've got everything you need to start playing.

Don't feel like you have to buy the entire padel aisle before you've even walked onto a court.

Play first.

Then you'll start discovering which things actually matter to you.

Maybe it's getting your own racket.

Maybe your shoes aren't giving you enough support.

Maybe it's finally finding shorts where the second ball stays in the pocket rather than attempting its own escape every time you move.

That's part of getting into the sport.

The more you play, the more you start noticing the little details.

And quite often, they're the things that make the biggest difference.