Building Padel Infrastructure in the Philippines

Padel is the fastest-growing sport in the world right now. It grew from roughly 10 million players in 2010 to over 30 million by 2023, with most of that growth happening in Europe and Latin America. The Philippines hasn't seen it yet — which is exactly why I'm building there now.

Why Padel, Why the Philippines

The sport has a natural edge over tennis for markets like Southeast Asia:

• Lower barrier to entry — the court is smaller, the ball is slower, and you can rally from the first session. Tennis takes months before a beginner can sustain a point.
• Social by design — it's always played 2v2. You show up with friends or join a game. That social mechanic drives repeat visits in a way solo sports don't.
• High yield per square meter — a padel court generates more revenue per square foot than most other sports formats. Margins matter when you're building infrastructure.

The Philippines is at the same inflection point Spain was in the 1990s and Argentina was in the 2000s. First-mover advantage in infrastructure is real — whoever builds the clubs, trains the coaches, and organizes the leagues now will define the sport's trajectory here.

What We're Building

PROSMASH is our padel club operation. We have locations in Makati and Alabang — the two business districts where the early adopter demographic lives and works. The goal isn't just to run courts; it's to build the entire stack:

1. Physical infrastructure — courts, coaching, equipment
2. Community — Padel League Philippines organizes the competitive layer
3. Data — tracking player rankings, court utilization, and growth metrics

The data layer is where it gets interesting. Most sports clubs run on spreadsheets and WhatsApp groups. We're using software from day one, which gives us visibility that incumbents won't have when they eventually show up.

The Systems Lens

I think about padel the same way I think about every other business I run: as a system with inputs, throughputs, and outputs. A court is a machine. A league is a scheduling system. A coaching program is a content pipeline.

When you see it that way, the obvious next question is: where does AI change the unit economics?

In padel, the answer is in scheduling, player matching, and coaching feedback. None of those are solved yet — especially not in Southeast Asia. That's where we're headed next.

If you're in Manila and want to play, reach out.