Padel Power Sweeping the World 05/26

Next up - Westlake, Florida

More than 30 years of coaching and facility management excellence - 
Marcos’ team expertise fuels success in Padel and all racquet sports

Join us in Colorado, Canada, and Florida soon! See below:

• May 6-7 (Wed/Thu) Parker, CO at Parker Racquet Club

• June 6-7 (Sun/Mon) Scarborough, Ontario, Canada at Blue Cat Padel

• June 8-9 (Mon/Tue) Calgary, Alberta, Canada at AFORZA Club

• June 13-14 (Sat/Sun) Orlando, FL at Padel Plus

• July 4-5 (Sat/Sun) Raleigh, NC at North Hills Club

• July 11-12 (Sat/Sun) Carrollton, TX at Padel39 North Dallas

• July 18-19 (Sat/Sun) Salt Lake City, UT at The Hive Padel Club

• September 12-13 (Sat/Sun) Charlotte, NC at Prosperity Athletic Club

• September 18-19 (Fri/Sat) Carrolton, TX at Padel39 North Dallas

• October 3-4 (Sat/Sun) Milwaukee, WI at Epic Milwaukee

Read: ABOUT THE CONTENT OF OUR NEW PADEL CERTIFICATION

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Babolat deepens its partnership with Lamborghini, bringing Italian motoring luxury into padel with five new looks that say more about where the sport is headed than any market forecast.

The Babolat x Lamborghini collaboration is one of the many signals converging on Barcelona at the end of May, for the Padel World Summit in Barcelona. Find more in our sponsored content section. And if you want to understand the infrastructure story behind the growth, our recent piece on ISO 25808 and global padel standards is worth your time.

Everything padel has become is coming to Barcelona in May 2026

Get in touch to subscribe to SGI

The International Padel Cluster (CIP) takes a key step in its global expansion strategy with the incorporation of its first two International Development Partners:

• Pierre-Emmanuel Gillaizeau (Paddiction) in France

• Mike Knowles (Inside the Lines) in the United States

These agreements mark the beginning of an international network that will enable the Cluster to strengthen its presence in key markets and accelerate the development of the padel industry worldwide.

Read more

Divaris Real Estate, Inc. announces the $6.3 million sale of 941 Laskin Road to BIVI/PADEL, LLC, with Gerald Divaris and Sezin Cortinas representing the seller and Levi Thomson representing the buyer, marking a new chapter for one of Virginia Beach’s longtime hospitality-turned-entertainment properties and introducing a new kind of sports and wellness destination to the market.

The sale positions the site for reinvention as Padel Foundry, a purpose-built indoor padel and wellness destination designed to bring sport, recovery, learning, and community together under one roof. More than the reuse of a familiar property, the project introduces a year-round concept that could add something new to Virginia Beach’s recreational landscape.

For decades, the site evolved alongside the market. Its earliest chapter was rooted in hospitality, when it operated as the Surf N Sand Motel. It later transitioned to theater use under Laskin Road Associates LP, a group of local investors who owned the property for more than 40 years and helped establish it as a recognizable entertainment destination for generations of local moviegoers.

“Some properties stay relevant because they adapt,” said Gerald Divaris, Chairman and CEO of Divaris Real Estate. “This one has done that for decades. It started in hospitality, became a movie theater, and is now moving into a use that will serve as a new way for people to gather and enjoy year-round recreation together.”

Cortinas also has ties to the property through her work on previous tenant deals over the years.

“Having been connected to this property for so long, it’s exciting to see how it’s evolved,” said Sezin Cortinas, Executive Vice President, Divaris Real Estate. “When we completed the Beach Cinema Bistro Theater deal, it was the right fit for that moment. Over time, the market changed, and we began thinking differently about what this property could become. Padel Foundry brings a fresh kind of energy back to a site that has always been about shared experiences.”

That next chapter began to take shape when Divaris and Cortinas started exploring alternative concepts for the property, and Levi Thomson, Executive Vice President of Divaris Real Estate, introduced them to a Richmond-based client whose vision aligned with both the location and the opportunity.

“This is the kind of concept that can help put Virginia Beach on the map in a new way when it comes to recreational sports,” said Levi Thomson. “It brings sports, wellness, and community together in a format that feels fresh for this market, and it has the potential to attract local interest and broader regional, even national, attention.”

The buyers, Ahmad Butt and Jason Vickers-Smith, plan to bring Padel Foundry to the site as a social “third space” centered around padel, a fast-growing racquet sport gaining momentum nationwide. In a city known for its strong sports-tourism infrastructure, active lifestyle, and year-round event calendar, Padel Foundry has the opportunity to meet local demand while adding a new dimension to Virginia Beach’s identity as a competitive, destination-driven sports and recreation market.

“Padel Foundry is not just about the courts,” said Ahmad Butt, partner in BIVI/PADEL, LLC. “We are creating a place where adults and families can play, train, recover, and connect on a regular basis. We want it to become part of people’s weekly routine.”

“Virginia Beach has the demographics and demand for racquet sports, but there is no dedicated indoor padel infrastructure here today,” said Jason Vickers-Smith, partner in BIVI/PADEL, LLC. “This gives us the chance to build something new to the market that supports recreation, coaching, youth development, and community in one environment.”

The partners say community integration is a key part of the plan. Rather than building an in-house restaurant concept, Padel Foundry intends to work with local food and beverage operators as part of the experience and the property’s connection to the broader Virginia Beach community.

With an early 2027 opening targeted, the project marks the latest reinvention of a property that has continued to evolve from hospitality to entertainment, and now to sports, wellness, and connection. As Virginia Beach continues to build its reputation as a year-round destination for activity, tourism, and lifestyle-driven experiences, Padel Foundry is poised to bring a new dimension to that mix.

About The Divaris Group

The Divaris Group of Companies includes Divaris Real Estate, Divaris Property Management, Creative Development Partners, The McGarey Group, S.T. Burke Retail Partners, Ingenuity Development, and KLNB Asset Services. Together, the Divaris Group is recognized as one of the most highly regarded full-service commercial real estate firms in the United States. Founded in 1974 in South Africa, Divaris relocated its corporate headquarters to Virginia in 1981. Today, the Group maintains 15 offices across the Mid-Atlantic region and California and oversees approximately 42 million square feet of retail, mixed-use, office, and industrial space under leasing and management.

Press Contact: Amy Campbell | [email protected] | 757.333.4399

Worth a Read:

==> Pickleball Reality Series Served Up

Partners premieres May 5 on Prime Video, following PPA Tour pros through the rivalries and off-court drama of life on tour… read more.

==> Leo Augsburger Signs the Longest Contract in the History of Padel

Siux has reportedly signed the 21-year-old Argentine until 2040… 
read more [in Spanish].

==> Caliber and PURE Announce Permit Approval for World's Largest Indoor Facility

Set to open in 2027, the 196,000-square-foot Scottsdale complex cleared its final regulatory hurdle… read more.

==> The Padel App Is Turning Matches into Meet-Cutes

Playtomic, built to book courts, has quietly become a social platform where open matches with strangers turn into friendships — and sometimes more… read more.

Much more…

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One million - and the number that really matters!

The Sports & Fitness Industry Association released its 2026 Topline Participation Report this month, and for the first time in the survey's history, padel was in it. The SFIA surveys 18,000 Americans annually in a nationally representative sample; it's the most-cited participation study in American sport. In 2025, the organization added two new sports to its tracking: padel and disc golf.

The headline figure is 1,073,000 Americans who played padel last year. It's a number worth acknowledging. But of that million, 238,000 played eight or more times in 2025. That's the number I keep coming back to.

Here's why it deserves careful attention rather than celebration. The United States has just over 1,000 padel courts open across 40 states. In a country of 330 million people, that is a thin footprint. Getting someone to try padel once isn't particularly hard when the sport is new, social, and increasingly visible. Getting them back eight times on infrastructure that, in most cities, means driving further than you'd like, booking days in advance, and working around a court schedule that doesn't have much slack in it, that's a different thing entirely.

Those 238,000 people found a way to make it work. That tells me the interest is real. Not projected. Not aspirational. Actual repeat behavior, measured independently, in conditions that weren't easy.

What it doesn't tell me is whether we can sustain it. The honest answer is that we don't yet know. A sport with a million total players but only 1,000 courts is under pressure in a specific way: demand is outpacing the infrastructure designed to serve it. That's a good problem in the abstract. In practice, it means players who want to play more can't always find a court, and players who try the sport for the first time may not find a second opportunity quickly enough to become one of those 238,000.

Our job, and I mean this in the most operational sense, is to close that gap before the enthusiasm runs ahead of the experience. The tournament calendar is growing. Club and individual membership both grew by more than 50% in 2025 and continue to climb. Those are encouraging signals. But milestones don't build courts. Investment does. Development does. Local operators who believe the demand will be there when they open.

This is a foundation: a cautious one, but a real one.

• State of play: USA opens its 1000th padel court

Link to The Padel Paper

• Premium courts without premium pricing 

• New approaches to padel court development

• AO Ventures expands investment in Mindspring Padel

• PBM Monthly: The Tournament Economics Issue

If you want to read more articles like this, visit padelbusinessmagazine.com and subscribe!