As padel fever spreads all over the world, the amount of content published daily about it is multiplying. Faced with this fact, we wonder: can we trust the padel content on social media? In this post, we are going to tell you why you have to be very careful about the content you follow in social media when you want to learn to play padel.

Emotional clicks and “Keys” to grab your attention

Let´s start with a question: what is more likely to generate clicks and interactions? a short video that uncovers “THE SECRETS OF THE VOLLEY” or a longer video that talks about why volleying depends on the context and you should practice it for many hours before you can master it? the incentives are clear: clicks, interactions, and attention time are prioritized. The emotional response is much greater in the first video. The user’s motivation is high, and the ease of access is also high, as BJ Fogg points out in his Behavior Model, widely used by most social networks.

We searched on YouTube for the words “padel” and “volley.” The first three videos that appear have the following titles:

  • “Rodri Ovide teaches me the secret of the volley.”
  • “Juan Tello and the secret of the perfect volley in padel.”
  • “Learn the backhand volley in padel – Perfect Volley Tutorial with Seba Nerone.”

Would you believe someone who sells you the secrets of weight loss, the perfect diet that benefits everyone, or the magic food that can gain you years of life? We don’t think so because these are very complex areas that affect each person differently. We know that we cannot lose weight without discipline, that it is something that does not happen overnight, and what is good for one person is not good for another. So why do we believe the same messages about padel?

The “secrets” and the “perfection” that these YouTubers are selling do not exist. Their main incentive is to have clicks, and they know how to play the emotional game that we were mentioning before. The only “secret” we know in padel is that it is a complex sport in which we must avoid black-and-white, good-and-bad, perfect-and-wrong solutions and embrace a large spectrum of grays.

How to know if the content has quality

As we mentioned in other posts like padel is a complex system there are no recipes in padel, so it is difficult to say “if you hear this or that in a video, you can´t trust it”. However, there are certain facts that can make you hesitate about the credibility and value of the content. For example:

-Do they use recipes? people want to hear black-and-white, yes or no, tips to improve quickly without effort, etc. So a good criterion to know if the coach is selling you something that you can trust is to check some videos and see if they use recipes to teach padel. For example: the 5 steps to make a perfect bandeja: step 1, step 2…bla bla bla.

–Does the coach talk about greys? Do they talk about “in this situation you must do this,” or do they talk about “it depends”? A good coach knows that in padel, there are lots of variables and few absolute answers. So if they are good and honest, you will get “grey” tips.

–Does the drill they show represent a realistic match situation? for example, the typical video of a coach feeding a lob and the player hitting a fast vibora at 100 km/h. is this situation realistic? in a match, will the player be in the service line waiting for the ball? Will there be a rival in the corner, or will it be empty? Will the player get the same lob every time?

Conclusions

Coaches and social media content creators have a significant responsibility when sharing content. We are teaching players and coaches, so as an honest coach, you should share not only what sells but also what you believe is the reality of learning: there are no easy answers, lots of variables and uncertainty, and lots of practice with no shortcuts.

And remember that being a very good player does not necessarily mean you are a good coach! It just means you are a good player. So be cautious when trusting a very good player with no coaching experience providing advice in the social media.