It all started with a dream.
I dreamt I was playing tennis with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. The strange part: I had never played tennis in my life. The friend in my dream, though, was someone who genuinely plays tennis — he had even coached it.
Using the dream as an excuse, I texted him. We said "it's been too long," steered the conversation toward a weekend plan, and decided to meet up as families. We got together with the kids at Kuğulu Park.
"Start with padel instead of tennis"
I told my friend about my dream and said I was now thinking of taking up tennis to get some exercise. He had a different suggestion for me: "There's a game called padel — start with that. It's much easier to begin than tennis." Then he explained a bit about what padel is.
When I got home I started researching and learned that there are padel courts in Ankara. Realising we could play this sport right here, I excitedly messaged another friend too. As it turned out, they had also seen people playing at the newly opened padel courts at METU and had been wondering "who could we play with?"
And just like that, the pieces fell into place.
The first match: just getting the ball across
We decided to play our first match in Koru, renting a court at a place called No.1 Padel. But there was a problem: Ankara those days felt like a rainforest. We waited anxiously right up to the last moment wondering "will we even get to play," and went to the court on edge.
In the end we got to play our first padel game as a couple. We had a single goal: just to get the ball across. No smashes, no tactics — getting the ball over the net was enough. And it turned out to be a genuinely fun game.
A feeling of a sustainable game
The first time I heard about padel, a feeling had grown in me that "this is a sustainable game." After the first match that feeling was firmly confirmed. Before we'd even left the court, we were already looking up when we could play the next game.
Maybe that dream was a small sign. That's how we discovered padel and had our first experience — and this was only the beginning.
See you on court!