If you want to get some sense of just how far padel has come in the U.S. over the past few years, you need look no further than the meteoric rise of PADELphia in Philly since its founding in 2019, when there were practically zero publicly accessible padel courts in the U.S. outside of Florida and Texas.
The first time I ever set foot on a padel court was actually at PADELphia in the summer of 2021 when the “club” was little more than two mismatched pop-up courts set up next to a skate park in a public space on Venice Island, about 20 minutes north of downtown Philadelphia.
Just a few short months later, one of those two courts ended up washing away and floating down the Schuylkill River during the historic flooding that occurred when the remnants of Hurricane Ida passed through the area.
But fast forward less than three years from that, and you’ll find PADELphia not only has a stylish new indoor home with three courts, but is also getting ready to host a whopping 70-plus teams for this weekend’s “Silverback Gorilla Challenge” — a 1000-level tournament on the new NOX USPA Circuit with a $4,300 prize pool.
The What Now?
Scott Grote is the mild-mannered yet always interesting mastermind behind PADELphia (as well as the founder and CEO of Absolute Padel). And more often than not, he answers any question I ask him about the padel world with a somewhat wild story I’ve never heard before. It’s no different when I ask him where the name of their second-ever 1000-level tournament comes from.
Grote tells me that one of their members, main sponsors of the tournament, and supporters of padel in the Philly area in general is Steve Graham of The Graham Partners. He also tells me that while Graham is known for many things including his time spent at Goldman Sachs, his deep involvement in multiple sports, and his many charitable endeavors, Graham’s real passion is… break dancing.
“He was known as the Silverback Gorilla,” Grote says very matter-of-factly.
He then tells me he’s going to send me a “very timely” video that I’ve definitely never seen, but I am definitely going to want to — and you probably will as well:
Initially, I am confused because Grote tells me it’s a video of the “U.S. National Team” at last year’s inaugural event — and I naturally assume he means padel. But then the break dancing begins.
Still a bit unclear as to what exactly I’m watching, I joke, “These guys should be over in Paris break dancing in the Olympics right now.”
To which he again very matter-of-factly responds, “They are.”
Very Timely, Indeed
While the country’s best break dancers are off competing in Paris, many of the country’s — and world’s — top padel players will be descending on Philadelphia this weekend to compete in the sophomore version of this event.
Grote says, “We’re really excited to be hosting a 1000-level tournament for the second year in a row. I think people like our venue and our space here. Plus, there’s so much more to do than just play padel around Philly. I think it’s a really fun destination to go play a tournament in and I think that’s one of the reasons we’re so successful and have about 30 teams in the first division draw.”
One of the players in that draw is a good friend of Grote’s, who is a great player, but certainly no pro. Grote tells me, “We were talking at the courts this morning after the draws had come out. In the first round he’s playing one of the very best teams in Division One — and if he wins that he gets to play one of the top-ranked players in the world.”
He laughs and continues, “He was like, ‘this is great!’ You know going in you’re probably going to get your ass kicked no matter what happens, but you’re so looking forward to the experience of playing with some of these great players. For these guys, it’s not all about winning, it’s about getting on the court with some different people, seeing a different type of game, and making some new friends.”
When I ask Grote if he’s playing — or just too busy running the tournament — he laughs even harder and says, “Of course I’m playing. Are you kidding? Yeah, you know me. I’m going to play.”
Second Edition — With a Few Notable Firsts
While this will be PADELphia’s second straight year hosting a 1000-level USPA tournament, this will be one of the very first to be held after the recent announcement that NOX and the USPA have partnered to form the NOX USPA Circuit…
What’s more, Grote tells me that this will be the very first tournament to incorporate the new ranking and rating system that the USPA and World Padel Rating recently unveiled.
Naturally, Grote expects a few hiccups as everything gets ironed out, but ultimately thinks they are incredibly well prepared to build on last year’s success.
He tells me confidently, “We’ve got it really well staffed this year. I have absolutely no doubts about the guys running the tournament on our end — and we’ve really put a lot of effort and resources and planning into making sure things run smoothly. All the best teams are coming, and we’re looking forward to having everyone be a part of it. It’s going to be a great event.”
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