The Origin Story

From Digital Hermit to Padel Addict: A Love Story

A few years ago, I made one of those life-changing decisions that sounds way more dramatic than it actually was – I packed up my life and moved to Lisbon. You know, the whole "work remotely from a beautiful European city" dream that everyone talks about but few actually pull off.

Spoiler alert: Living the dream isn't always as dreamy as Instagram makes it look.

Don't get me wrong, Portugal is incredible. The food, the weather, the people – all amazing. But here's what no one tells you about the whole "digital nomad living outside the city" thing: it's pretty lonely. Sure, you've got your laptop, your perfectly curated home office setup, and all the pastel de nata you can handle, but making genuine connections? That's the real challenge.

I was basically living like a hermit with good WiFi and a stunning view.

Then my friend and business partner decided to visit for a couple of months. This guy has this uncanny ability to immediately adapt to any situation – the kind of person who shows up in a new country and somehow knows all the local hangouts within 48 hours.

"Dude," he said during his first week (and yes, he actually talks like that), "everyone here plays this sport called padel. It's like tennis but in a cage. We should totally try it."

Now, I'm not usually one to jump into new sports. My athletic resume peaked in high school, and even that's being generous. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and I was desperate for human interaction that didn't involve video calls or ordering coffee in broken Portuguese.

So we found some people to play with – probably through one of those apps where you awkwardly try to make friends as an adult – and booked our first session.

Here's where it gets embarrassing: we thought we were naturals. I mean, we were hitting the ball, it was going over the net, sometimes it even landed where we intended. In our minds, we were basically ready for the professional circuit. The Federer and Nadal of padel, if you will.

Reality check: We were terrible. Hilariously, confidently terrible.

But here's the thing about being bad at something with someone else – it's actually kind of fun. We started playing multiple times a week, convinced we were getting better (we weren't), having the time of our lives (we were), and slowly but surely, meeting people who didn't immediately walk away when we introduced ourselves.

For those couple of months, life felt different. I had something to look forward to, people to hang out with, and a reason to leave my perfectly comfortable hermit cave.

Then he left.

And just like that, I was back to my old routine. No more padel, no more hanging out with random people who somehow tolerated our questionable playing style. I told myself I'd keep playing, but you know how that goes. Without someone to drag you out of your comfort zone, it's surprisingly easy to slip back into old habits.

Eight months passed. Eight months of telling myself I'd get back into it "next week" or "when I'm less busy" or whatever excuse felt most legitimate at the time.

Then something happened that changed everything.

I got introduced to a local club and met someone who would become my coach. Not just any coach – someone who actually knew what they were doing and, more importantly, had the patience to deal with someone who thought knowing how to hold a racket made them an expert.

But here's what I didn't expect: it wasn't really about the sport.

Within weeks, I found myself part of something I hadn't even realized I was missing – a community. These weren't just people I played padel with; they became the people I'd grab dinner with, explore the city with, complain about work with, and celebrate life's random victories with.

They became my people.

The friends I made at that club didn't just teach me how to actually play padel (turns out, there's a lot more to it than just hitting the ball really hard). They taught me how to live in a new country, how to find my place in a culture that was still foreign to me, and how to build something meaningful from scratch.

Almost every day, I hang out with at least one person from that original group. They've become such an integral part of my life that I can't imagine what living here would look like without them.

Looking back, I realize that padel wasn't just a sport I stumbled into – it was the bridge to the life I actually wanted to live. It was the thing that took me from being a lonely remote worker to being part of a community that genuinely cared about each other.

Sometimes the best things in life happen when you're not looking for them. Sometimes you just need to show up, be willing to look ridiculous, and trust that the right people will find you.

And sometimes, just sometimes, you realize that the sport was never really about the sport at all.

---

Want to share your own padel story? We'd love to hear it. Drop us a line and let us know how padel changed your life too.