Let's take a few minutes to discover the mistakes we make frequently without realizing it and that degrade our equipment, reducing its life. Take care of your equipment and you will save a lot of money that you can use as you see fit.

The car's trunk

Here is one of the first mistakes we make. Leave the bag of padel in the trunk of the car a whole day and even several days. The problem that our equipment and especially our racket suffers is the temperature change. The trunk of the vehicle, even if the racket is in its insulated cover, is the worst place for it. You go to work, take your bag with you. When you get home, take the bag out of your vehicle and you will protect your gear.

Change balls

We are able to buy a pala at 300 € but we save money on balls by playing with several matches. The problem of the balls is, when they remain without pressure too long, that they deflate, which can degrade our racket and especially can hurt us at the level of the wrist, the elbow or the shoulder. Know that this is not because a ball has almost no hair that it is not good to play with. The advice: either you chained the games and can use the balls 3 or 4 matches, or you invest in a pressurizer. Its advantage is to keep the balls under pressure and make them effective, especially if you play little.

Play with shoes from padel or tennis, no running

It doesn't matter what brand or price you pay for your shoes, but use either shoes from padel either tennis shoes for the practice of padel. They are reinforced, adapted to movement and the sole is designed for these types of soil. Running is recommended for running on natural grass, concrete, asphalt, pebble type soils, etc. but not for synthetic carpet.

Come with a backpack or paletero

Some players come to play a game, racket in hand, without bag. Any backpack will suffice, but it is important to have a bag in which we will always put something that, unconsciously, will make our life better and protect our racket.

Dry your racket after the matches

Snowshoes never come out of their cover except during matches. During a game or training, we sweat what tends to wet the handle of our racket. Also, depending on the conditions in which we play (indoor, outdoor, morning, evening, summer, winter ...) the racket can capture moisture. A simple advice: when you come home, dry your racket, just out of the cover, no need to put on a heater. The grip of the handle, the foam of the racket as well as all the materials that compose it will last longer.

Buy used racquets or previous years

While buying second-hand rackets or previous years allows us to do good business. But be careful about one thing. As mentioned above, the conditions of conservation of the racket are essential for its longevity. Buying a used racquet is very complicated because you do not know how it was maintained. For the palas of previous years, a season or two back does not affect too much, but more than two years is risky because if the pala was kept in a dry place without temperature variations, perfect, otherwise it is a bet that only you make.

 

Julien Bondia

Julien Bondia is a teacher of padel in Tenerife (Spain). Columnist and advisor, he helps you play better through his tutorials and tactical/technical articles padel.

On the same subject