am a Lahori and Padel is my personality for the next one month,” I joked with my friends a couple of weeks back. The eight of us had booked a place called Padel Park in Phase V, DHA. As working adults, it was a feat aligning our schedules, but after only a few weeks’ delay we finally managed to execute the plan.

Dressed in swanky sports gear, the gang landed at the facility that cost us 7,000 bucks.

Some of us did not care about the pricing as long as it was — what we were hoping — going to be a weekend well spent. Some were particularly happy about receiving a discount due to us having ‘connections’ with the owner of the place. This is a luxury me and my friends can afford at many places in the city as most of us have either studied or worked at the two most expensive (read prestigious) universities in the city. In my opinion, there is nothing more Lahori than getting things done because you know a guy who knows a guy.

Booking a one-hour slot at the facility was seamless. We simply visited the website, reserved our court, chose the number of hours we wanted to play and paid online.

For the uninitiated, Padel is a racket sport which, in my opinion, is a much-degraded form of tennis. The ball is similar to a tennis ball with a slower bounce but the rackets are made of plastic, are much heavier than a tennis racket, and are perforated. The court is also smaller in size and is enclosed on all four sides. Scoring is the same as tennis but the rules are different, making the game easier for the players.

It would not be wrong to say that if you have never picked up a racket sport in your life, you can still manage to play and enjoy Padel within a week’s time. Several reasons, including not much of a requirement in terms of physical fitness and the game being low intensity, make it appealing to a wide range of players.

But is it really a sport for everyone? Every time I have gone to play the game, I have only seen people from a certain socio-economic class. Shiny cars, branded Nike and Adidas gear, the high-end Pala rackets people bring with them despite the availability of rackets at the facility, all point to a particular level of class privilege. It’s a privilege that me and my friends share, but one that is out of reach for most in the city. Some might argue that not everything needs to cater to a mass market, but the high price tag and the way people flaunt their gear reminds me of the clear class divide that exists.

That said, every experience I’ve had playing Padel has been enjoyable. We’ve made great memories in a safe, family-friendly space. As a woman, having access to such a space where I can have fun freely is a privilege I don’t take for granted. It’s also encouraging to see more women engaging in a community sport alongside men. However, I can’t help but think of families who would love to enjoy a simple, enriching activity like this but can’t afford it, as Padel seems to cater mostly to the city’s elite.

It would not be wrong to say that if you have never picked up a racket sport in your life, you can still manage to play and enjoy Padel within a week’s time.

Padel courts are mushrooming across various parts of the city, most being in and around DHA. Many are outdoor spaces, open 24/7 with eateries within the vicinity. There are a couple of indoor courts, which is also great considering how Lahoris have to brave a scorching summer throughout most of the year. The couple of courts I have visited are clean, with helpful staff and equipment readily available to play with. The playlists I believe, are carefully curated as they add to the overall atmosphere of the facilities. While some courts are privately owned, others are backed by international investors. One notable example is Padel In, the largest Padel franchise in the Middle East, which has also made its mark in Lahore.

In Ramazan, the business booms as many youngsters prefer going to the Padel courts in the evening and even late at night. Since there is a preference to stay up till sehri during the month of fasting, Padel is serving to be an activity which is keeping young adults busy with an opportunity to stay active and socialise at the same time. Omer Ahmed, 38, says, “I’ve always loved sports, especially table tennis, so picking up Padel felt natural and exciting. It’s a great way to stay active while challenging my strategy and reflexes in a new way. More than anything, I love the laughs and friendly competition it brings amongst friends.”

Of course, the late-night timings do not work for groups of girls. As Areebah Irfan says, despite the place being family-friendly, women cannot stay out till the wee hours of the night as men can.

As much as Padel has become the talk of almost all drawing room soirées and café meet-ups where the young adults are often heard boasting their skills in the sport, it seems there is room for other such sports to take off in the city as well. One such example is Pickleball, the younger sister to Padel with an even smaller court, slower pace of the game and easier scoring. With popular sports that are not only accessible but also cheap to play — eg cricket — one might assume that a complete shift is not possible. Galli cricket and local grounds in many parts of the city filled with loud cheers of young male players are a depiction of this. However, with the seeming decline in cricket’s popularity (thanks to the national team’s abysmal performance in the recent past, and many youngsters now choosing to not watch or play the game), there is an inclination to try new sports seen. Padel and Pickleball have become a global craze which in the case of Padel at least, seems to have trickled down to our socio-economic Class A.

Another aspect for any sport to really take off is its ability to entertain the audience. With International Padel Tournaments becoming a fad, one can imagine the viewership for the sport growing in some areas. However, the lack of access and the elite capture of the sport at least in the case of Pakistan may not really help Padel take off the way investors would like it to. Lahoris also tend to grow out of trends rather quickly whether it is a restaurant that they had lined up for, hours on end, on its opening; or a fleeting fashion trend like the tulip shalwars. The question for us Lahoris then is: Will we let Padel stay, or it is yet another fad that will fade out the way many other trends have?

Faaria Khan is a lecturer at LUMS and a human rights researcher. Her research interests lie at the intersection of education, gender and South Asian minorities.