Red Wing Greats' Padel Gym in Sterling Heights Thriving

From The Silky Mitten State: three beloved Red Wing alums dip their toes into entrepreneurism

On the latest episode of The Silky Mitten State, we discussed a recent article in The Detroit News about a Padel gym in Sterling Heights, opened about six months ago by Red Wings alums Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, and Gustav Nyquist.

Padel is a racket sport, believed to be of Mexican origin, similar to pickle ball, but with a tennis ball instead of a Wiffle Ball and a spongier paddle.  Its popularity is soaring in Europe, particularly in Spain and Sweden.  Per the article in The News, Zetterberg, Kronwall, and Nyquist collaborated with former Swedish pro padeler Robert Kjellberg to open Zmash Padel in Sterling Heights.

“I retired in 2019, moved back to Sweden, [and] wanted to do something," said Zetterberg in the story. "I had a tough time playing tennis, running—I had to move. I found out about this sport—it was one of the few acivities that was good for my back, and I still get a really good workout...So I started to play, and I got really, really hooked.”

Connor and I offered our thoroughly informed insights as to a strategy to grow the already thriving business.  You can check out a snippet of our conversation in the clip above and the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts:

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