July 18, 2025 • 7 mins
Padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world – a racquet sport combining the elements of tennis and squash.
The Padel New Zealand tour is hitting Wellington this weekend, the tour designed to bring players of all levels together.
Luke Neira, founder of Padel Wellington, joined Adam Cooper for a chat about the growth of the sport, encouraging players to get involved.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Dancy
Waldergrave from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well paddle is one of the worlds and I think
New Zealand's fastest growing racket sports. It's a bit of
a mixture of you know, skills and tactics of tennis
squash as well because there are a few you know,
walls involved. It's a sort of an indoor kind of
setting and it's really started to you know pick up
(00:32):
and people taking part in New Zealand pickleball as well.
It's got some similarities too. But at the moment there
is this Paddle New Zealand Tour taking place. The best
paddle players from around the country have played a tournament
in Totonga recently. They're in Wellington this weekend as part
of the Paddle New Zealand Tour and they'll eventually end
up in Auckland as well closer to the end of
(00:53):
the year. So big tournament's underway and Wellington is part
of the Paddle New Zealand Tour and it continues right
across the weekend. So let's find out a little bit
more about it now. Luke Nearer joins us Luke has
pretty much set up and runs the paddle house in
Wellington that sees a lot of people come along for
a hit you know, at all times and really enjoy
(01:14):
it works with us. Now, thanks for your time, Luke,
and you must be pretty excited to have a big
tournament like this at your paddle house there in Wellington.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, really exciting. It's been in the making for about
a year now, and yeah, I just can't wait your
lost ground running a lot of cool people coming in
from all over the country, showcasing your talents and yeah,
buying to be the best in New Zealand. Taking them
was bot So this is.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Part of a tour, the Paddle New Zealand Tour. It
started entitling her last summer in Wellington this weekend and
then we'll finish up in Auckland in a few months time.
So who's actually organizing this wider tour?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So it's organized by a Paddle New Zeon So with
Sorri E from New Zeon Paddle. She's the one who
is looking after all of that and putting everything behind
and all the brains behind it all trying to make
it the best it can be. And she's a network
of team around her. Too many people to mention at
this point, but she's the brain basically.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And how nice is it for you as as someone
that's opened to a paddle center, to be able to
have a tournament like this come to town and you'd
be one of the hosts for it.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, it's amazing. We're really trying to bring all the
stops and make it. Isn't the best the best so far?
Obviously Tarron was a tough, tough one to be but
we're hoping that we can we can bring it up
and get to that level.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
When you opened the center in Wellington last summer, Luke,
what was your sort of aim in terms of people
through the doors and exposing the sport to people that
may not have been too familiar with it And how's
that gone? Half a year?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
And the main point was really just to bring a
sport to New Zealander. Didn't really exist obviously there's a
little bit in Auckland, but just seeing how it had
taken the world by storm, and knowing how New Zealanders
are to sport and try new things, I thought I
knew it would do really well. And since we've opened,
we just every day we had new people creating memberships,
new people coming to try it out. People were leaving
(02:58):
with smiles on their faces, so we'll be back soon.
So yeah, in all those fronts, I would say it's
going really well. And in terms of close and pedalinguits,
we're taking up some pretty good.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Players because I guess the skills are transferable a lot
across quite a few different racket sports, aren't they. It's
got a bit of squash, it's got a bit of tennis,
a bit of pickaball in it.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah, yeah, it definitely does has bits of all of those,
which obviously if you know, if you've played one, then
you can definitely transfer it to the other. If you've
played two, is just like bigger, bigger hits start if
you played three, could didn't give you even more of
a head start.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Tell us a bit about this tournament this weekend, Luke,
where a day into the three day tournament started yesterday
continues across the weekend. What type of athletes have you
got taking part in this? And if people come from
far and wide to be involved, Yeah, a.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Caring coming over from Australia. Otherwise everybody else is New
Zealand based primarily North Island. At the stage. But yeah,
it's just a mens a grade means big grade and
a woman's a grade great.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And I see that no matter if you're into it
and had a bit of a tough opening day, that
you're still getting all the peers to be playing over
the weekend. How important is that?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, that's great. So because obviously people are having to
travel from different parts of New Zealand, we are we've
adopted we've chosen a group format so that everyone gets
at least three or four games each. We found that
the normal traditional draw you could only play, you could
play two games and be going home. So we felt
this way gives people a bigger chance of progressing to
(04:21):
the next stage, just because if you had one bad game,
you can win the next two and you want out
of the tournament. So it's been received really, really well,
and I think it's at a way you're going forwards as.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Part of a series. It's been to todd On, it's
going to be an Auckland later on Wellington. Now South Island,
how's the sport there. I haven't hear too much about
the sport in the South Island yet.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, so I know of one place that's being built
at the moment and tans so they will have a
great little space with three courts indoor courts as well,
so that's definitely happening. There's been a few murmurs around
christ Church potentially even Wanaka, so we shall we have
to wait and see what's what the wood roots, what
comes out the woodworks and just.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
For you and running the Wellington seems to look how
important has it been sort of you know, working alongside
these these other centers, the likes of the Aucklands and
the and the title is to get something like this
weekend up and running.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, it's really important because obviously when when you start
playing a sport, you need to have different levels of
of of competition and not and and non competition just
because that's the only way you're going to keep people interested.
And we do speak a lot with with other paddle
owners throughout throughout the country, sharing ideas and how we
can we can get more people in from different sports
(05:32):
or different activities that they're doing by doing some cross
cross things cross events. So we've we've done a few
run and rally clubs where we have we offered out
to running clubs so they can come along and go
for a little little little run and income and played
and paddle after uh and you've done the same with
Pilate's as well, and it's and it's gone, it's gone
really well. And people have come back from those and
(05:54):
they've started playing. And we've just recently had one person
or two people sorry, come from a running club and
they joined up to our league which is which is really.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Really good, fantastic And look, just finally people are listening
in Wellington and might come along and check out some
of the top players compete over the weekend of the
doors open there for people to come and watch the tournament.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, of course open from eight till nine today and
from eight till probably six Tomorrow's opinion on how fast
the games go or how long the games go, but yeah,
the Sunday afternoon tomorrow, I think it will be a great,
greatest spectacle as all the finals of the women's men's
as or both means amb Greed will be on good
on you.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Luke will have a great weekend hype the tournament goes
really well. That is Luke Nero who runs the Wellington
Paddle House And yeah, if you can you have a
look at it, have a Google pad e l is
the spelling Paddle is the name of the sport. Very
popular and building in terms of you know, competitive numbers
and people taking up the sport overseas and it is
really picking up some momentum around New Zealand. So it's
(06:52):
as part of this paddle New Zealand Tour and Wellington
across the weekend and it will head to Auckland a
little bit closer to summertime as well.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
listen live to News Talk set be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Dancy
Waldergrave from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well paddle is one of the worlds and I think
New Zealand's fastest growing racket sports. It's a bit of
a mixture of you know, skills and tactics of tennis
squash as well because there are a few you know,
walls involved. It's a sort of an indoor kind of
setting and it's really started to you know pick up
(00:32):
and people taking part in New Zealand pickleball as well.
It's got some similarities too. But at the moment there
is this Paddle New Zealand Tour taking place. The best
paddle players from around the country have played a tournament
in Totonga recently. They're in Wellington this weekend as part
of the Paddle New Zealand Tour and they'll eventually end
up in Auckland as well closer to the end of
(00:53):
the year. So big tournament's underway and Wellington is part
of the Paddle New Zealand Tour and it continues right
across the weekend. So let's find out a little bit
more about it now. Luke Nearer joins us Luke has
pretty much set up and runs the paddle house in
Wellington that sees a lot of people come along for
a hit you know, at all times and really enjoy
(01:14):
it works with us. Now, thanks for your time, Luke,
and you must be pretty excited to have a big
tournament like this at your paddle house there in Wellington.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, really exciting. It's been in the making for about
a year now, and yeah, I just can't wait your
lost ground running a lot of cool people coming in
from all over the country, showcasing your talents and yeah,
buying to be the best in New Zealand. Taking them
was bot So this is.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Part of a tour, the Paddle New Zealand Tour. It
started entitling her last summer in Wellington this weekend and
then we'll finish up in Auckland in a few months time.
So who's actually organizing this wider tour?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So it's organized by a Paddle New Zeon So with
Sorri E from New Zeon Paddle. She's the one who
is looking after all of that and putting everything behind
and all the brains behind it all trying to make
it the best it can be. And she's a network
of team around her. Too many people to mention at
this point, but she's the brain basically.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And how nice is it for you as as someone
that's opened to a paddle center, to be able to
have a tournament like this come to town and you'd
be one of the hosts for it.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, it's amazing. We're really trying to bring all the
stops and make it. Isn't the best the best so far?
Obviously Tarron was a tough, tough one to be but
we're hoping that we can we can bring it up
and get to that level.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
When you opened the center in Wellington last summer, Luke,
what was your sort of aim in terms of people
through the doors and exposing the sport to people that
may not have been too familiar with it And how's
that gone? Half a year?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
And the main point was really just to bring a
sport to New Zealander. Didn't really exist obviously there's a
little bit in Auckland, but just seeing how it had
taken the world by storm, and knowing how New Zealanders
are to sport and try new things, I thought I
knew it would do really well. And since we've opened,
we just every day we had new people creating memberships,
new people coming to try it out. People were leaving
(02:58):
with smiles on their faces, so we'll be back soon.
So yeah, in all those fronts, I would say it's
going really well. And in terms of close and pedalinguits,
we're taking up some pretty good.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Players because I guess the skills are transferable a lot
across quite a few different racket sports, aren't they. It's
got a bit of squash, it's got a bit of tennis,
a bit of pickaball in it.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah, yeah, it definitely does has bits of all of those,
which obviously if you know, if you've played one, then
you can definitely transfer it to the other. If you've
played two, is just like bigger, bigger hits start if
you played three, could didn't give you even more of
a head start.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Tell us a bit about this tournament this weekend, Luke,
where a day into the three day tournament started yesterday
continues across the weekend. What type of athletes have you
got taking part in this? And if people come from
far and wide to be involved, Yeah, a.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Caring coming over from Australia. Otherwise everybody else is New
Zealand based primarily North Island. At the stage. But yeah,
it's just a mens a grade means big grade and
a woman's a grade great.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And I see that no matter if you're into it
and had a bit of a tough opening day, that
you're still getting all the peers to be playing over
the weekend. How important is that?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, that's great. So because obviously people are having to
travel from different parts of New Zealand, we are we've
adopted we've chosen a group format so that everyone gets
at least three or four games each. We found that
the normal traditional draw you could only play, you could
play two games and be going home. So we felt
this way gives people a bigger chance of progressing to
(04:21):
the next stage, just because if you had one bad game,
you can win the next two and you want out
of the tournament. So it's been received really, really well,
and I think it's at a way you're going forwards as.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Part of a series. It's been to todd On, it's
going to be an Auckland later on Wellington. Now South Island,
how's the sport there. I haven't hear too much about
the sport in the South Island yet.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, so I know of one place that's being built
at the moment and tans so they will have a
great little space with three courts indoor courts as well,
so that's definitely happening. There's been a few murmurs around
christ Church potentially even Wanaka, so we shall we have
to wait and see what's what the wood roots, what
comes out the woodworks and just.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
For you and running the Wellington seems to look how
important has it been sort of you know, working alongside
these these other centers, the likes of the Aucklands and
the and the title is to get something like this
weekend up and running.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, it's really important because obviously when when you start
playing a sport, you need to have different levels of
of of competition and not and and non competition just
because that's the only way you're going to keep people interested.
And we do speak a lot with with other paddle
owners throughout throughout the country, sharing ideas and how we
can we can get more people in from different sports
(05:32):
or different activities that they're doing by doing some cross
cross things cross events. So we've we've done a few
run and rally clubs where we have we offered out
to running clubs so they can come along and go
for a little little little run and income and played
and paddle after uh and you've done the same with
Pilate's as well, and it's and it's gone, it's gone
really well. And people have come back from those and
(05:54):
they've started playing. And we've just recently had one person
or two people sorry, come from a running club and
they joined up to our league which is which is really.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Really good, fantastic And look, just finally people are listening
in Wellington and might come along and check out some
of the top players compete over the weekend of the
doors open there for people to come and watch the tournament.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, of course open from eight till nine today and
from eight till probably six Tomorrow's opinion on how fast
the games go or how long the games go, but yeah,
the Sunday afternoon tomorrow, I think it will be a great,
greatest spectacle as all the finals of the women's men's
as or both means amb Greed will be on good
on you.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Luke will have a great weekend hype the tournament goes
really well. That is Luke Nero who runs the Wellington
Paddle House And yeah, if you can you have a
look at it, have a Google pad e l is
the spelling Paddle is the name of the sport. Very
popular and building in terms of you know, competitive numbers
and people taking up the sport overseas and it is
really picking up some momentum around New Zealand. So it's
(06:52):
as part of this paddle New Zealand Tour and Wellington
across the weekend and it will head to Auckland a
little bit closer to summertime as well.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
listen live to News Talk set be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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