A Parent's Guide to Getting Kids Started in Padel

Padel is one of the easiest racket sports for a child to pick up. The court is smaller than a tennis court, the ball moves slower than a tennis ball, and doubles-only play means kids are never trying to cover a full court alone. If your child has shown any interest, it's a genuinely good sport to start them on.

What age can kids start playing?

There's no strict minimum age, plenty of clubs run junior sessions from around 6 or 7 upwards, with coaching adapted to age and ability. Junior-specific equipment is generally designed with a slightly narrower age range in mind, ours is built for roughly 7 to 12 year olds, since that's the range where a scaled-down racket makes the biggest difference to how comfortably a child can play.

What to look for in a junior racket

Size and weight

An adult racket is simply too heavy and too long for a young child's arm. A junior racket should be noticeably lighter and shorter, so a child can swing it comfortably for a full session without their technique breaking down from fatigue.

Shape

The same principle that applies to adult beginners applies even more to kids: a round shape with a bigger, more forgiving sweet spot means more good contact and fewer frustrating mishits, which matters a lot for keeping a child enjoying the game.

Grip size

A grip that's too thick for small hands makes the racket harder to control and can encourage bad habits early on. Junior rackets should have a noticeably smaller grip circumference than an adult racket.

Our recommendation

The Golden Padel GP Junior is built specifically for ages 7 to 12: a round head, a soft EVA foam core for a forgiving feel, a 310g weight, and a 100 to 105mm grip circumference sized for smaller hands. It comes with a free can of balls, so it's ready to play straight out of the box.

Making it stick

The biggest factor in whether a child keeps playing isn't the racket, it's whether the first few sessions are fun. Round, forgiving equipment helps with that directly: more good hits and fewer frustrating ones make a real difference to whether a session ends with a smile or a strop. Beyond that, a local club or junior coaching session is the best way to get started, most padel venues in the UK now run junior-specific sessions, and the LTA maintains a court finder if you're not sure what's near you.