The Dassbeck sports center in Dreye is changing hands. The new owner relies on padel and is investing in new courts. Badminton will be reduced and tennis will be eliminated altogether.
Dreye – At the end of the press event, a spontaneous game takes place in the tennis hall in Dreye between senior manager Karsten Dassbeck and the new owner Kristian Wichmann: They pass balls to each other with padel rackets – and longer rallies immediately ensue. Padel or padel tennis is apparently considered easy to learn for a reason. From Latin America to Spain, a real boom has developed across Europe in recent years – and it has long since reached the region. Padel courts have recently been created at numerous locations.
As part of the upcoming change of ownership, the Dassbeck sports center on Gutenbergstrasse will develop into one of the largest covered facilities for trend sports in the area. To achieve this, the badminton offering will be reduced and the tennis offering will be discontinued entirely. Squash and fitness should remain at the same level as before. The owner family pointed out the upcoming change at the beginning of this year: The sports center will be handed over to Kristian Wichmann on April 1st, who already runs courts in Bassum and Delmenhorst with his company Vamos Padel; Another facility is to be added in Oldenburg over the course of the year.
After 48 years as a family business, such a decision is not easy, says Heiko Dassbeck, managing director and son of the founders Ingrid and Kristian Dassbeck. On the Sportcenter website, the family referred to economic and personal reasons. Tennis has become “a difficult topic,” especially in the summer months, especially since there are a lot of outdoor courts, Dassbeck explains the background. So he started to find out more about padel. This is how contact with Wichmann came about. The decision to sell had already been made beforehand.
Dassbeck and Wichmann are on a first-name basis, and the chemistry between both sides is obviously right. The sports center will continue. That was what was important to the family, emphasizes Heiko Dassbeck. In Kristian Wichmann they found someone for whom the location was not just an investment property.
Nevertheless, the sports center and its users are facing changes in the direction of padel. In total, Wichmann wants to create six double courts in Dreye – doubles is the usual way of playing in padel -, two single courts and a place specifically for children’s padel. The latter has so far been rare. Some of the existing badminton courts will be made way for the padel courts, and their number will shrink from seven to three. The tennis courts will disappear completely from the hall. A cut – Wichmann is aware of that and shows understanding for tennis members of the sports center who are dissatisfied about it.
According to Heiko Dassbeck, his family would not have been able to carry out a renovation like the one now planned. Wichmann estimates that he will invest around 450,000 euros in the renovation. According to Dassbeck, including the upper floor, the halls on Gutenbergstrasse have an area of around 5,500 square meters. Area that will be used more optimally in the future – padel courts are smaller than tennis courts, notes Dassbeck. How quickly the conversion can be implemented – padel is played on artificial turf – depends on the subsoil under the hall floor, explains Wichmann. A start in mid-April is realistic.
Wichmann discusses a few other changes. He announces that he will be organizing both official tournaments and unofficial fun tournaments, so-called Americanos, in the padel area. In the future, the places for all racket sports – soon to be padel, squash and badminton – would be booked and allocated exclusively via the Playtomic app. The costs were then calculated per place, no longer per player. He will also offer rental rackets for padel and set up groups on Whatsapp.
Kristian Wichmann – known for his strawberry and asparagus farm in Bassum, which he wants to continue to operate independently of his padel commitment – says he discovered padel nine years ago. Wichmann explains padel’s recipe for success on the one hand with the sport itself: Even without experience, you can quickly experience success when playing. But also with the trappings: Matches can also be made at short notice via the app, and music plays in the background while you play. In other words: Padel meets the need for spontaneous, individual leisure activities – and has already overtaken tennis in some countries. There is a bit of sadness when Heiko Dassbeck says: “There is a time for everything.”
