When I first talked to Miguel Correa of the Charlotte Padel Club about nine months back, we discussed lots of things. His collegiate tennis background… his various entrepreneurial endeavors… and, of course, his thoughts on what the future might hold for both U.S. padel in general and his club in particular. At the time, I’d say he sounded cautiously optimistic at best.
So, I was happy (and perhaps even a bit relieved) to hear the overwhelming positivity in his voice during our most recent conversation as he walked me through all of the club’s progress, their recent expansion, and their plans for the future.
From Humble Beginnings…
Unlike so many other big, splashy padel clubs that opened about the same time, Charlotte Padel Club admittedly started as a fairly bare-bones affair, with just three outdoor courts and a small social area located adjacent to an existing tennis and swim club in Matthews, NC (about 15 miles southeast of downtown Charlotte and less than a 100 miles from the first padel court in South Carolina).
But it managed to gain some solid traction right off the bat, attracting over 100 members within just a few months of opening. The real problem Correa originally told me was all the days his three outdoors courts sat empty due to the weather, be it wind, rain, heat, snow, cold, or some combination of them.
The last time we spoke he had been contemplating trying to find a fully indoor location where he could re-locate and grow, so I was a bit surprised to hear that while the Charlotte Padel Club did, in fact, expand to six courts, all of them are still outside — for now, at least, anyway.
Correa tells me, “I believe people in the South want to be outside. That’s a big plus. When it’s nice out, they want enjoy the sun, the nature, the breeze.”
As someone who lives just a few hours away in Charleston, SC, where we also love to play outdoors on beautiful days, I can’t argue with him there.
And we go on to discuss the fact that while the many padel clubs popping up in industrial warehouses around the country never lose a day to the weather, they also tend to feel a bit soulless, not to mention very dark.
… to a Bright Future
While the club’s expansion came with its fair share of hurdles and frustrations (Correa tells me he can’t wait for all the construction to finally be done), it’s clear that it was well worth the effort.
In order to get permits to eventually build 30+ foot, open-air canopies over some of the club’s courts (to create an ideal indoor/outdoor environment), Correa was required to move his existing three courts further down the property — which was the first hurdle.
Correa explains, “We finally got the approval to move the courts. And after a long conversation with the property owner, I was able to convince them to let me move my three courts further down the property… add three brand-new MejorSet courts and a big, new social area… and convert the area where we had the three padel courts before into six pickleball courts.”
Not the easiest task, to be sure. But after trudging through all the painstaking details about what was required to make the expansion happen, Correa just laughs and says, “Now it’s a really good, top-notch facility. Now I’m proud of it.”
Covering All the Bases (and Courts)
“I’m in the process of finalizing the canopies for three of the courts, at least. The plan is to cover them before the end of the year, that way we’re not worried about rain or anything else,” Correa continues before adding, “We’ll see how that works. If that works as planned, then most likely we’ll cover the other three as well.”
Of course, building 30+ foot canopies in areas that are only a few hours inland from where major hurricanes often hit will likely open a whole new can of worms entirely.
But, for now, Correa is just taking it one step at a time, and enjoying all of the new opportunities the expansion has brought, like being able to host an entire circuit of tournaments over the coming months with over $8,000 it total prize money being offered up.
Smiling, he says, “Now we can host bigger tournaments, bigger events. We’ve got cameras on all the courts. We haven’t done anything on a national level — yet. But the plan is to have a large team event in the fall, kind of like Davis Cup.”
The first of these big, new tournaments, The Charlotte Padel Club Invitational, took place just a few weeks ago and attracted 68 total players, as well as a slew of sponsors including everyone from Wilson and RedPADEL to local breweries and wellness centers.
Next up is this weekend’s BodyArmor State Games, sponsored by Adidas, which kicks off Saturday, June 29.
Despite some hiccups along the way and inevitably a few more ahead, it appears that Correa’s growing optimism about the future of his club and the sport itself is more than warranted, which is great to see.
He closes our conversation by proudly telling me, “The concept is to build the community. I’ve always been community first. My philosophy is if it’s good for the community, it’s going to be good for the business…
And now we’re really starting to gain traction, both as a community and as a business. Everyone who comes and sees the new set-up says, ‘Wow, this is my happy place.'”
You can visit the Charlotte Padel Club at 2110 Pleasant Plains Rd, Matthews, NC 28105 anytime M – F from 7am to 10pm and on weekends from 7am to 7pm. You can call them at (704) 771-1559 or contact them via Instagram.
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