The popularity of padel has grown to the point where setting up a court and playing a game with friends may happen anywhere. They have surpassed all of our expectations this time, even though we have seen them at unthinkable locations like the top of the world’s highest structure.
We must go to the Netherlands, more precisely to a little city that is less than 100 kilometers from Amsterdam, in order to find it. There, in a place known as Arnhem, the padel lunatics have suggested destroying all that has been accomplished thus far.
Each of these things has a name of its own: Roland Verheij. He has been the driving force behind the concept that transformed the historic church cloister into the ideal location for the blue carpet installation.
The Church of San José is one of the several locations in the area that Roland oversees through his real estate company. Built in 1938, this edifice has been devoid of religious activity for the past eighteen years.
He and his partner Dick Mantel made the decision to purchase the property in 2019 for just under one million euros. The intended goal of this acquisition was to turn the area, which consisted of the church and the surrounding grounds, into a grocery and a place of residence for some fifty family members.
But for the time being at least, this entire magnificent project is paralyzed. Because of this, they made the decision to search for a substitute that would enable them to recoup their investment, and thus the idea to construct a padel tennis court was born. We already know that this sport’s business model essentially guarantees success.
This is how Roland Verheij started construction on what would become the first indoor padel court in the area in just one week. It is situated precisely where the bench that greeted the faithful during the festivities used to be, in the middle of the church cloister. It is a short distance from the cross and altar that still atop the church.
Given the recent rapid growth of the sport, it should come as no surprise that padel tennis is a fantastic commercial venture. As a result, this project addresses the businessman’s passion for this sport as well as his success both domestically and internationally.
You only need to look at how legendary football players like Robben, the De Boer brothers, and Van Persie have chosen to invest in Holland. Now, this important businessman has likewise succeeded in doing so—and in a pretty groundbreaking fashion, at that.
What is the price to play padel tennis in a church setting?
The cost of playing padel tennis inside a church is the final detail about this innovative concept that has to be learned. This is unquestionably a one-of-a-kind event that is not available anywhere else, therefore we can assume that the cost reflects its rarity.
We were surprised to learn that this was not totally true. For those who want to experience padel in a totally different way, PlayTomic has been offering the Holy Padel since April 8.
We can see that, depending on the day and time we select, the cost for renting an hour and a half—the average amount of time amateur players often take—is between 45 and 50 euros. It would cost about thirty or thirty-five euros for an hour. Consequently, each individual would have to pay roughly 10 euros for us to play padel tennis inside a church.
