If you can get access to a ball machine and a padel court you can really elevate your game strictly on your own. There are definitely a few caveats though. I have personally around 150 solo sessions with a ball machine at my local facilities in Norway. Thankfully a while ago my local club decided to purchase one and make it available for its members at a fairly cheap price (around €5/hour). A year later a facility where I am a member also purchased a machine (the same problematic machine unfortunately, I'll get back to that later) and make it available to its members during non-peak hours to train. Given that their membership at around €100/month gave 85% discount on court fees, I was able to have a 90 minute solo session during non-peak hours for the extremely nice cost of only around €3.

But enough about me. What I have learned during my 150 sessions as well as watching other local players use the machine, is that if you are not methodical about it the benefits can be minimal. I will try to sum up my thoughts in this article.

Repetitions is the king of consistency

If there is one thing I learned from my father in the 90s (yes I am that old) as we practiced table tennis for hours and hours in our basement, doing the same boring control shots hundreds of times over the net without missing, it is that repetitions are the key to build a good foundation with few unforced errors. If you can practice your groundstrokes tens of thousands of repetitions with good technique, it will give you an incredible stable base and an edge over your competition. I have carried this training methodology over to my padel training and when I give advice to others.

The ball machine is an absolutely fantastic tool to let you build your foundation in this regard. It can give you similar shots a hundred times in a row only limited by the ball capacity in your given machine. In a match you can practice your backhand groundstroke maybe 30 times and it would be hard to focus on technique because you have everything going on in the match and have to worry about your next shot. If you spend 30 minutes with the same backhand groundstroke, alone with a ball machine, you can get at least 300 shots in and possibly even more, where you are fully focused on your technique.

This is true for all shots in padel - groundstrokes, volleys, overheads - build up your consistency and reduce your unforced errors by getting thousands of repetitions of each shot during the span of for example a week of training. This will definitely set you apart from other players at your level which do not do this kind of training.

Build on a solid foundation (technique)

An extremely important point for me is that in order to get benefit from repetitions you must understand the correct technique for each shot. This is absolutely crucial. If your stroke is incorrectly performed with poor technique, doing repetitions will only harm you and engrain your bad habits even more, to the point of correcting it later being much harder.

If you are not sure how to properly perform a shot - PLEASE get help from a coach first so you get a basic understanding of the technique involved. I highly recommend filming both your coaching session (or at least make notes after you have received instructions so you don't forget them). And definitely film your training session once in a while, to inspect your technique and see that you are on the right track.

I cannot emphasize this point enough. It is a game changer to elevate your game for the long haul. Say you have 30 practice sessions incorporating poor technique. Now you need even more sessions to unlearn this technique and start completely from scratch.

Train regularly with intention to see results

If you are serious about improving your padel game you should be doing regular practice sessions in order to see long term results. A few sessions per week quickly becomes 100 sessions a year which is massive compared to someone close to your level which doesn't do it. In order to keep it fresh I also suggest mixing it up and having some fun with the training. You don't need to practice groundstrokes, volleys or viboras every single practice session. When I get bored I usually work on some specialty shots like chiquitas, bajadas or even volley drop shots which is a fun twist. I also try to squeeze in a lob session every now and then since the lob is greatly overlooked by many in training. Many coaches say that the lob is the most important shot in padel.

What the ball machine will NOT teach you

There are definitely a lot of things a ball machine can't help you with. The obvious one being able to respond to any sort of shot in a match - the flow of shots in a match are very dynamic and depends a lot on your competition. To perform in matches you need to play matches, get a feel for where they usually place their shots and adapt your game. The footwork required in a match is also greatly different from with a ball machine where you pretty much know where the ball is coming (maybe unless you have sort of a random program in your machine).

Furthermore, some shots is in my experience very difficult to transfer from practicing with the ball machine to performing in a match. I struggled a lot to play good viboras in my matches even though I could hit 30 in a row with a machine. The reason is that the lob you are receiving might be very different from the consistent lobs coming from the machine, and you have to decide in a split second and prepare your feet all at once when doing the shot in a match.

So keep this in mind when trying out your new shots. You might not get it working straight away, even though it felt easy in practice. But keep trying, you will get there.

Main benefits of the ball machine

In my humble opinion and ball machine experience, the main benefits are to:

• Be able to develop and practice new shots
• Get thousands of repetitions on shots you know well
• Get consistent training without requiring a partner

How can I get access to a ball machine?

This is a bit of a tricky question - I was very fortunate to have access to a ball machine for parts of my padel journey. Now though I have to admit I really don't have access to one as both local machines have broken down which is a great shame. Ball machines require a lot of maintenance, at least the ones we have had locally, sensors keep breaking and needs to be reset and at times they even break and we need to order replacements. You also need to calibrate them from time to time. The amount of dirt coming from the courts and the balls are massive, and they get real messy inside.

Try to get your club or facility to buy one

The best and most cost effective solution for you would be to have your local club or facility to invest in purchasing one. But they can be very expensive. The one at our local club cost around €3500 when they purchased it, and a year later when the facility purchased it was even more expensive at around €4500. This is a lot of money for any club or facility, so it needs to be considered carefully. It can definitely improve the padel enjoyment and learning experience for both club and facility members so it can be a great benefit. In our commercial facility which purchased one, in addition to offering members to use it they also have it as part of their weekend training every Saturday and Sunday morning.

Keep in mind there are definitely cheaper options available though, which I have not tried. The Padel School in the UK speaks highly of the Slinger Padel Launcher which is only around €1340 at the time of writing this. It has less features than the more expensive machines though.

Buy one yourself or with a group of friends and bring it

An option which might not be as feasible for many is to chip in with some padel hungry friends and buy a machine like the Slinger Padel Launcher I mentioned above. You would have to bring it to your club every time unless you get a deal where you can store it in a cabinet or so at the local facility where you usually play.

What is a good ball machine and what does it cost?

As of right now I mostly know only about 2 machines. One is the brand we purchased locally and it is rather expensive. It has a lot of features and ball capacity, it is easy to switch between different programs and practice most of your shots.

GameCam Shotgun

• Brand from Sweden.
• Now with version 4 of this machine (we are on version 3 I think)
• Price: around €4500
• Website: https://www.gamecam.se/shotgun

Slinger Padel Launcher

• Smaller and less expensive machine
• Highly recommended by The Padel School and they even have a course designed around it (see below)
• Price: €1340
• Website: https://slingerpadel.com/en/

Practice programs with a ball machine

I am planning to write a separate guide on different practice drills to do with a ball machine but I have not gotten around to it yet. In the meantime though, the amazing people over at The Padel School has a Slinger Ball Machine Course which I can highly recommend. The guys at The Padel School are experts in teaching and are a staple in the padel learning community. Their first video on their Youtube channel was published 8 years ago!