25 padel goals, from your first rally to your first tournament

Padel goals for beginners

Under the FIP rules, padel is played by two pairs on a court closed in by walls, so beginner goals count rallies, lessons and partners.

• Take 4 beginner lessons in your first month.
• Keep a rally going for 10 shots with your partner, walls included.
• Play once a week for 12 weeks.
• Call the score out loud for a whole set without a mistake.
• Play with 6 different partners in your first 2 months.

Padel serve and return goals

Under the FIP rules you bounce the ball and hit it at or below the waist, so a padel serve is nothing like the one in tennis goals, and it has counts of its own.

• Hit 20 legal serves in a row: one bounce, hit at or below the waist, into the box across the net.
• Lay a towel halfway back in the service box and land 7 serves out of 10 behind it.
• Hit 5 serves out of 10 that bounce and then run into the side glass.
• Return 8 serves out of 10 at the server's feet or over their head with a lob.
• Serve and reach your spot at the net before the return, 5 times out of 5.

Padel wall goals: playing off the back glass

LTA Padel tells new players to use the glass as much as they can to get used to it, and these goals count exactly that.

• Let 20 deep balls come off the back glass and return each one, first with an extra bounce, then without.
• Return 6 balls out of 10 off the back glass on your backhand.
• Return 5 balls out of 10 that hit the side glass and then the back glass.
• Hit 20 lobs from the back that bounce past the service line and before the back glass.
• Play one full practice where you turn side-on and take the racket back early for every ball off the glass.

Padel net goals: volley, bandeja and smash

At the net, the overhead to learn is the bandeja, Spanish for "tray": LTA Padel calls it the most common overhead in padel, a defensive shot that keeps you at the net after a lob.

• Hit 20 bandejas a practice, letting the ball drop to about eye height first.
• Land 7 bandejas out of 10 past the other pair's service line.
• Answer 6 lobs out of 10 with a bandeja instead of running back to the glass.
• Trade 30 volleys in a row at the net with a partner.
• Land 8 smashes out of 10 inside the court from high balls a partner feeds you.

Padel match, partner and tournament goals

Match goals are what you and your partner do in the game, and if you want a fitness goal to go with them, Hyrox goals count runs and strength stations.

• Play 40 matches this year.
• Play 10 matches with the same partner and agree on one thing to work on after each.
• Agree with your partner before each match who takes the balls down the middle, for 10 matches.
• Keep double faults to 1 or fewer in each of 5 matches.
• Enter your first club tournament with a partner.

What is a good padel goal?

A good padel goal counts something you do. "Climb the club ladder" depends on three other people: your partner and the pair across the net. "20 legal serves in a row" depends on you. A review of 27 studies of goal setting in sport found that process goals, the ones about how you carry out a skill, had the largest effect on performance (1.36). Goals about your own results came next (0.44), and goals about winning had almost none (0.09).

Know the rules the counts are built on. Under the FIP rules, the court is 10 m wide and 20 m long, closed in by walls and wire fence. A ball that bounces on your side may hit the walls and stay in play, as long as you hit it before it bounces a second time. Points are called as in tennis: 15, 30, 40, game. The first pair to 6 games with a 2 game lead wins the set, and a match is the best of three sets.

Then make the goal specific. A review of 35 years of goal research found that specific, hard goals lead to better results than "do your best". Add a when and a where: "If I get to the court 10 minutes early, I hit 20 serves." That is an if-then plan.

How to track padel goals

Write your counts down before you leave the club. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that recording it beat keeping it in your head.

Serves, lobs, bandejas and hours on court are amounts that add up. Matches and practice days are a day count. A goal like 100 sessions this year, or 20 serves a day for 100 days, is tracked the same way as a 100 day challenge.

A club ranking moves slowly, and it moves with your partner too. A picture that fills with every serve you count shows your part of the work.

Frequently asked questions

What are good padel goals for beginners?

Take 4 lessons in your first month, keep a 10 shot rally going with the walls in play, and play with 6 different partners. Then start counting serves: 20 legal serves in a row is a clear first target.

What are the serve rules in padel?

Under the FIP rules, you stand with one foot behind the service line, bounce the ball, and hit it at or below your waist, diagonally into the box across the net. You get a second serve. After the bounce, the serve may hit the glass but not the wire fence.

How do you keep score in padel?

As in tennis: 15, 30, 40, game. The first pair to 6 games with a 2 game lead wins the set, with a tie-break at 6-6, and a match is the best of three sets. At 40-40, the FIP rules allow advantage, a single golden point, or the star point, a deciding point at the third deuce.