A new experience and a new Picklebuddy

Two weeks ago, an ex-colleague pinged me to ask me to be her partner for a pickleball tournament. We hadn’t been keeping in touch much, but we were both on Facebook and each knew that the other played pickleball.

After being reassured that we did not have to pay to join, I agreed. (I was not going to pay to play a few games and lose!) It was a charity tournament where the teams have to pay (donate) to participate, but we were actually being invited to join the beneficiary charity’s team, because they did not have enough female players.

The format of the tournament was an interesting one: Men’s doubles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, veteran’s doubles (combined age above 100), and junior doubles (at least one player below 15). My friend and I would play women’s doubles, and we prepared by meeting up for three separate sessions before the tournament. The goal was not to win, but to not lose too badly!

There was another lady in the team, whom we met for the first time on the tournament day. (Actually we met everyone else in the team for the first time on the tournament day.) Hearing that my friend and I had played together a few times, our captain let us play women’s doubles for all matches, and Mei Leng (the other lady) played mixed doubles with another teammate whom she was also meeting for the first time that day. (They did quite well despite that, and managed to win one match.)

My friend and I unfortunately did not win any match…though we came close in two matches, losing 15-14. The first match was the toughest, where our opponents were so good that after the first few points, they slowed down their shots and seemed to be hoping that we could get a point. When one of the shots was close to the net and I missed reaching it by a bit, the one who hit it even said “sorry” to me :P (she was standing near the net, probably waiting for my return shot).

After the group stage, we had to wait till 2pm for the knockout stage. We were last in our group, but every team continues to knockout games, either in the championship bracket or in the consolation bracket. I wasn’t aware that there would be a knockout stage for us (since we were expecting to lose :P ), so I wasn’t prepared to have lunch there. Unlike the stronger teams who already had their lunchboxes prepared…and some ordered fast food like McDonald’s. Luckily there was an F&B outlet attached to the pickleball court. It’s called Cheang Kee, and it has both local and western foods (coffee and other beverages too). Not a big selection, but a variety of different kinds. Looking at the dishes coming out of the kitchen, I decided that the pork knuckle rice looked not bad, and ordered it. It was better than I expected, with soft meat and enough gravy soaking into the rice. Easy to eat with a plastic spoon (that they provided)! 

There was a lucky draw after the group stage, and I actually won a prize. But it was a prize that I would rather have not won at all…it was a voucher for a box of free contact lenses. And what’s strange is that the voucher even says that it is valid only for Court of Hearts participants (that’s the name of the tournament), and it was limited to 50 participants. It seemed like a voucher that should have been given to all participants, not as a lucky draw prize. So I felt like I had been used as an extra lucky draw recipient so that they could get more photos of people receiving prizes… That said, there were a lot of recipients for this prize, so I wasn't the only one. Right before that, I think four people received a camping chair (each :P ) from Decathlon, which would have been a lot more useful! 

They put up that backdrop for the lucky draw, and after that we took a team photo. Ten team members, and the one on the right is the person in charge of the charity. The four children (adolescents) are part of the charity programme. 

We received a goodie bag, and inside was a lot more stuff than I expected. 

The most interesting thing is this. I didn't even know that posture support braces existed!

I looked it up, and it seems that we're supposed to wear it to improve our posture. I don't think I need it though...I believe my posture is fine, especially after doing yoga. :P

At the end of the tournament (or should I say, after we got eliminated in our first knockout match), our teammate Mei Leng surprised Pauline (that's the friend who invited me to join!) and I by giving us each a little crocheted Snoopy. I think it was one of the items being sold for charity at the court. The packaging said "Picklebuddy to keep you company".

See the pickleball paddle it's holding? There's even a ball!

It's a key-chain, but I will be storing it in its packaging...since it is white and will get black very quickly if I hang it around...