“We in the team thought about how we could give something back to the people here at the club who work hard every day to allow us to play Bundesliga football here in Hoffenheim,” recalls Benjamin Hübner, the former captain responsible for this remarkable gesture – and who is back at the club as a management trainee and U19 assistant coach following the conclusion of his playing career. The idea came about after the team reached the last 16 of the DFB-Pokal in the 2022/23 season. The players decide to use the bonus they received to fund the new facility. “We have a lot of players and staff who enjoy playing padel. It’s a brilliant thing and really shows the character of the team.”
The end result of the team’s action can be viewed from afar: the two courts, one of which is free for club employees to use, are resplendent in a dark blue colour. Padel is a mixture of tennis and squash, played on a rectangular court measuring 10 x 20 metres, which – like tennis – is divided into two halves by a net. The court is surrounded by glass walls, which can be incorporated in play in a similar way to squash. Padel is often played by four people, i.e. doubles. A real team activity, as TSG captain Oliver Baumann enthuses: “It’s always positive when the team spends time together off the pitch and has fun. Objectives are only achieved if you’re enjoying yourself.”
This fantastic initiative has been supported by TSG kit supplier JOMA. JOMA play a leading role worldwide in the increasing popularity of padel. For Alexander Karsten, sales manager for JOMA in Germany, committing to the project was a logical step given the company’s own aspirations: “As a supplier, we are not only strongly represented in football, but also in padel, in which we have huge expertise and immense passion. It’s great that we can combine these two disciplines in such a fitting way here at TSG Hoffenheim.”