It’s October and forgive us for being a lil hazy. It might be the weather. Cough. 😶‍🌫️😮‍💨

The month saw outdoor games thinning out and indoor games getting snapped up. Perfect for the folks who took part in the first-ever OCBC-Great Eastern Open held indoors at the OCBC Arena, 23-25 Oct. We checked out the competition and soaked in the ‘inaugural experience’. (In da Hood).

We continued staying indoors and popped into the 2nd edition of the PickleX Cup for finance industry types (nice peeps leh not stuck up at all!) and also attended the Joola FX launch. Both in air-conditioned comfort, phew! (In da Hood)

Before you accuse us of going soft, we’d like you to know that we’ve been hard at work for 10 months straight since our launch. And we could do with some downtime (hint hint to the bosses). AND if we are chilling, we’d do it with The Dinking Problem, a merry bunch who play Pickleball in ‘the right spirit’. (In da Club)

On a more serious note, 10 October is World Mental Health Day and we’d like to believe our little game with the plastic ball can help people find some balance and comfort on court. We spoke to Keeshan Menon, Head of Mental Health Service (Northeast Region) at Allkin (In da Club). And also asked people’s thoughts on Pickleball and mental wellbeing in Whaddaya dink?

Of coz, we are not super serious so enjoy our two photo spreads under Holding Court, one set dressed light and breezy and the other in Halloween black. We kept the Halloween theme going for Re-serve as well. Some OMG sharing. 😳

Solid win for Singapore. #Represent 🫡

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And as always, if you have a Pickleball story or event you’d like us to feature (get your profile up, build your personal brand etc), email us at [email protected] or Whatsapp us at 9633 6586.

Happy Pickling now! ✌🏼

What does a Brazilian food giant have in common with Pickleball? More than you might think. Founded in 1944, Sadia has built its name on feeding families around the world with its chicken, beef and frozen food products. Now it’s stepping into a different kind of ‘kitchen’ to serve up a charity Pickleball competition. We wanted to know what’s cooking coz a Brazilian household name getting into Pickleball is…Kind of a Big Dill.

Evelyn from Sadia: My entry into Pickleball started about a year ago purely out of curiosity coz my husband kept sneaking out to play. Eventually, he brought me along to join his regular group which happened to be a vibrant mix of seniors ranging from their 60s all the way to their 80s! I was terrible at first, completely missing my shots and serves, and everyone told me gently I needed to go home and practice against a wall. Well, I did, and I got completely hooked. And the rest is history. I like Pickleball’s fantastic mix of high-energy play, sharp reflexes, and a brilliant, cross-generational social connection.

As for my read on the SG scene, Pickleball has gone beyond just being a passing trend. You can see it in the rapidly growing number of Pickleball courts popping up all over the island, and yet, even with that expansion, courts on OnePA are still almost impossible to book. The demand is explosive! It’s bridging generations from youth to seniors, and it is full of opportunities for lifestyle and consumer brands to plug into a vibrant, health-conscious community where people genuinely linger, connect, and have fun. I’d say there’s a lot of potential over the next 5-10 years. I mean, Reclub has 20,000 S’poreans playing Pickleball!

E: FMCG is fundamentally about everyday life, nourishment, and bringing people together around a table. Or in this case, around a court. Premium protein (chicken and beef) fuels active lifestyles, so stepping into wellness and sport is a natural extension of what our brands stand for i.e. strength, vitality, and wholesome energy.


We chose a charity game over a standard tournament because Pickleball’s superpower is its community spirit. Traditional competitions can sometimes feel hyper-intense or exclusionary to casual players. A charity format lowers the barrier to entry, strips away the intimidation factor, and channels that collective community passion into a meaningful cause. It lets people sweat together with a shared purpose rather than just fighting for a trophy.

E: FMCG is a complicated yet not complicated business. You sell something essential, some may even consider it a necessity. You can sell meat and poultry as something premium or sell it based on price. Our products are from Brazil and they are frozen but what’s different is how we raise the chickens and cows, what we feed them, how we process them, how we are sustainable and how everything is certified…the whole farm to table. Everything is traceable. That’s how you become a trusted brand of 80 over years.

Most endemic brands in Pickleball are selling you the tools to play i.e. paddles, shoes, or recovery rubs. Non-endemic corporate entrants like banks are selling financial security.

As an FMCG protein brand, we are owning what happens after the game or how you fuel for it.
While many brands focus strictly on the sweat on the court, we want to be associated with the camaraderie, the post-match celebrations, and the wholesome energy that keeps people thriving both on and off the court.

E: We want activations that feel native to the high-energy, community-driven nature of the game rather than feeling like a sterile corporate booth.
Our main centerpiece will be an on-site food truck manned by Ye Olde Cow, serving up a specially-crafted menu featuring premium Sadia chicken and beef. It’s designed to be completely open to the wider community. We welcome everyone, whether they’re competing, dropping by to support their friends on court, or simply looking for great food and a fun weekend atmosphere. Best of all, it ties directly into our give-back mission: every single bowl sold directly contributes to our fundraising goal. It turns a delicious pre/post-match meal into a shared, meaningful way for players and the public alike to support a good cause together.

Andy of Rallies Asia: Using a single Sadia product to create a variety of recipes, say, curry or barbeque etc demonstrates the versatility of the meat/product. This provides everyone with a choice and gives them an opportunity to contribute to charity. Food for everybody, money for charity.

A: The first point of success is probably the sign ups. We opened up for registrations on a Thursday. By the end of the Friday (next day) it was completely filled up. AND we have like 13-14 teams on the waiting list on top of the 32 teams. We could open up more slots but that would mean we won’t get any organic traffic from the neighbourhood who’d come to play (we’ve booked 8 out of the 10 courts at TSA@Jalan Kayu) and are likely to participate in the fringe activities. We want the whole event to be festive.

E: Spoken ROIs are standard: brand visibility, engagement rates, and securing authentic touchpoints with a fast-growing demographic. Unspoken, true success for me looks different. It’s when a player finishes a match, heads over to our station, and genuinely associates our brand not as an annoying corporate sponsor, but as an authentic part of their Pickleball routine. If we can spark organic social media shares, build emotional brand affinity, and see players actively choosing our products to fuel their active weekends, that’s a massive win. (Another unspoken personal ROI is for my team to not get thrashed or get pickled!)

E: We are definitely not just dipping our toes in for a one-off stunt. Our long-term commitment to Pickleball is anchored by our strategic collaboration with Rallies Asia, giving us the operational runway to build a multi-season roadmap rather than a short-term test. Crucially, as Sadia, we certainly look forward to leveraging Pickleball's incredible community inclusivity and engagement for future events. Coz the sport naturally brings people of all ages and backgrounds together around a shared love for the game, we want to build lasting programs that nurture community wellness, support local grassroots growth, and stay deeply embedded in the lifestyle fabric of the sport for years to come.

E: If I could choose anyone, it would be Jaime Teo. What makes Jaime an absolute standout fit is her authenticity. She is genuinely active in the local Pickleball community and plays the sport regularly. Beyond the court, she’s a relatable mother who actively champions healthy home cooking for her teenage daughter.
This is where Sadia becomes the ultimate collaborator. Because Sadia provides wholesome, high-quality, and convenient protein solutions (like chicken and beef) that busy parents trust to nourish their families, Jaime bridges active sports performance and household nutrition so naturally. She speaks directly to the exact demographic we want to reach: families, women, and everyday active individuals who care deeply about what fuels their bodies and their kids.

ATP: Calling Jaime Teo, come in Jaime Teo!

E: I would love to pull off a pop-up 'Midnight Glow Pickleball Open' right inside the Rain Vortex atrium at Jewel Changi Airport, transforming the iconic indoor forest and waterfall backdrop with professional glowing courts, UV-reactive lines, and high-energy music, paired with a ‘live’ gourmet culinary station where top chefs grill up premium Sadia chicken and beef for players and travelers.


The constraints? While it would be an absolute visual masterpiece and an incredible celebration of SG’s iconic spaces, getting the necessary municipal and airport stakeholder approvals to set up temporary sports courts in a major international transit hub while managing crowd control and foot traffic is a massive hurdle. But experiential-wise, it would be the ultimate intersection of world-class lifestyle, travel culture, and active sports.

📅 Sun, 15 Nov 2026
⏰ 10am check-in; 11am first serve. Prizes by 5pm
📍 The Sports Arina @ Jalan Kayu

100% of sign-up fees feed Willing Hearts
📩 Registration is currently full: join the waitlist.

We, at ATP (or aroundthepost), would like to do our bit for Sadia’s charity tournament. So every clean ATP that a player hits will get him/her a small cash prize from us AND $50 to Willing Hearts.

The only two conditions are:
1) the player MUST be a subscriber of our newsletter. (Subscribe NOW!)
2) the person(s) who hit ATPs agree to be featured in our newsletter.

That’s all. Easy peasy.

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Our ‘search’ for Pickleball players who look good on court goes on. Here’s who caught our eye in Oct 💯

In the high-stakes world of finance, where every move is calculated, industry leaders are finding a new arena to test their mettle. The Pickleball court. The PickleX Cup is a finance tournament, blending competitive spirit and team building with niche networking, proving perhaps that the best deals are often struck not over spreadsheets, but over soft dinks and hard volleys. ATP spoke to Jason the co-founder of PickleX Cup and some participants for a vibe check.

Jason: We are extremely grateful for the support of the participating teams in each of these events. There's been a lot of learnings and points that we have noted that we could improve and do better on. But the continued involvement by teams from these major financial institutions reinforces our belief that there is a strong and growing demand for corporate tournaments like these. As more corporate recreational clubs gravitate towards Pickleball and teams invest in training time, coaching and competitive experience, I'm sure that this scene of corporate Pickleball tournaments will continue to explode across Singapore. 

J: We are blessed to be able to bring Pickleball in different configurations to different audiences of players in SG. PickleX was born to meet the gap of good competitive corporate tournaments while PickleMall was created to give players unique and exciting venues to play Pickleball at. While both audiences overlap, the venue requirements for each are vastly different due to the nature of the events. I do hope more corporate recreational teams will consider coming to PickleMall to train in preparation for the next PickleX Cup!

“We are a really young team. A lot of us have not played competitions before. Quite a few only started playing this year. We trained once a week if we could find a court. Most of us have a tennis background but we prefer Pickleball now. Pickleball is very social, you know. You get to play with a lot of different people. And most of the time, we just want to have fun on court. 

The level of competition in PickleX has been really high. You need at least 50% of players from your company and we only ‘imported’ one lady coz we didn’t have enough female players. The other companies took it quite seriously and brought in a lot of 4.0 players like coaches and people who represent SG. That’s the competition we were facing and we had many 21-20 losses which were very close despite us being underdogs. I think that’s pretty awesome considering they had higher level players.

We’d like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to the GIC team. They are really, really passionate and hardworking and very fun people.”

“This is my second time playing PickleX. I like what they stand for…trying to bring finance people together to network etc. I do see quite a lot of familiar faces, like 50% finance people and 50% from Pickleball, so it really feels like one very big community. It’s nice to see which of my Pickleball friends are in the finance industry. It gets extra competitive playing against them as money is on the line!

For my team, we tried to meet the criteria of nearly the entire team being from the company itself (Leapmotor). Quite a lot of us met for the first time today. I do know of a few pairs in the team coz most of us work for the same company…we’ve probably seen or heard of each other. Maybe that's why our chemistry has been okay. But in terms of preparation, there wasn’t much preparation.

As a team captain, you are not only playing but are also managing your team as well…not just the pairings but their emotions. Like you set the goal for your team but you also need to keep them motivated, keep them calm etc. It’s probably one of the most difficult things to juggle as a player and a captain. We found out that we made the quarters. We didn't expect to make it this far so we might as well try to take it all the way!”

“We prepared for this (PickleX) by playing a few times a week. Play together for fun. The games have been good, challenging, and at quite a high level. We are rooting for ourselves to win, of coz (laughter). We want to say ‘thank you’ to the organisers and the sponsors for this event. We are having a lot of fun…they’ve been treating us very well with good drinks and nice food so thank you very much. And to you guys (ATP) for covering the event!”

OCBC announced their entry into Pickleball a year back (25 Oct 2025) and launched the OCBC-Great Eastern Pickleball Open in April this year.

The objective was to involve as many S’poreans as possible, starting with 24 learn-to-play workshops by certified coaches culminating in the competition that saw some 1,600 participants, playing in the Novice (>2 years of playing), Open (all skill levels), Corporate and Bank of SG Invitational categories.

We went along to soak up the ‘inaugural experience’.

How would we summarise our time at the OCBC-Great Eastern Pickleball Open?

Lijing & Ryan, were taking part in a Pickleball competition for the very first time and chose the OCBC-GE Open…they were too shy for a photo (hence, ze kartoon).

Lijing: I enjoy playing Pickleball. Partnering my boss to connect on court was an easy decision.

Ryan: I've always enjoyed racket sports, so Pickleball was an easy ‘yes’! It would be a great opportunity to connect beyond the usual meeting rooms. Plus, how often do you get to team up with a colleague, have some friendly competition, and call it relationship building?

LJ: Our strongest shared motivation is knowing there’s breakfast waiting for us right after the games. 😋

R: I think we have a pretty good balance. LJ brings energy and enthusiasm. Our strategy is simple: communicate, encourage each other, and not take ourselves too seriously. And apparently, according to LJ, breakfast. It’s our biggest motivation. I can't disagree with that!

LJ: I think Pickleball has a low barrier of entry. Games are social, and apps like Reclub make it easy to jump in through friends and colleagues, or his friend, her friend, my friend.

R: Absolutely! Golf has always been a great networking sport, but Pickleball brings something different to the table. It's accessible, fast-paced, and you don't need four hours or a decent handicap to have a good time. The beauty of Pickleball is that people of different ages and skill levels can jump in, have a laugh, and build connections naturally. I wouldn't say it'll replace golf, but it certainly gives networking a much more energetic spin!

LJ: This is actually my first tournament ever, so a win for me is just having great rallies and soaking up the energy. It helps a ton that my boss is super encouraging and brings zero stress to the court. Honestly couldn’t ask for a better teammate! 🥹

R: Beyond the scoreboard, it's really about enjoying the experience, having some great rallies, and making memories with friends/colleagues.

Adeline, is still relatively new to competitions (has played a few) while for Jia Xuan, this is just her fifth time playing Pickleball.

Jia xuan: It’s my first corporate game! Got to commit to something so that we will train together. The idea of winning something together excites me too.

Adeline: This is also my first corporate game! Thought it would be fun to challenge ourselves and hopefully achieve something as a team! 

JX: Open comms, humility and sportsmanship

Ade: I think we complement each other well – keeping comms open and encouraging each other!

JX: One of the latest, though I didn’t see it as a networking opportunity when I first joined games for it

Ade: It is definitely a sport that can bring people from all walks of life together and build meaningful connections. 

JX: Personally it is to serve without mistakes. Professional is to be on the podium

Ade: Looking forward to meeting different players at the event and enjoy playing together regardless of results!

L wanted to partner his wife for the Open but couldn’t coz he had medalled this year. He, too, was shy about photo-taking like Lijing and Ryan. (Why all so shy?)

“To me this is a community-based competition and OCBC-GE should be commended for putting up an above average show at the first time of asking. It isn’t a PPA event or a for-profit event like Skechers. It’s for regular people. I know there were some unhappy campers, especially the advanced players (many were given special FOC invites btw) but c’mon, how many local tournaments do these advanced players want to win?

To see the same people winning week in, week out is also boring, right? Leave one two competitions to the average Joes and Janes lah. I’m sure OCBC-GE will learn from the feedback and fine tune the competition next year. After all, we live in a world of optimisation not perfection.

I’m quite grateful for this OCBC-GE Open. My wife lagi happier.” 

The Joola FX paddle launch in SG brought together enthusiasts eager to explore its innovative design and performance capabilities. Held at the (relatively new) Pickle & Bones at the Republic of SG Yacht Club on 1st Oct, people got to test out the paddles…going all out for Adrian’s head. 🤣

While we, at ATP, generally refrain from formal reviews of Pickleball gear (too many reviews out there), we do like seeing people behaving like kids in a candy store. Like they did at the Joola FX launch where there was fun to be had and a new paddle to be bought. Here’s the cause and FX from that evening. (What can you say, the wordplay was too tempting!)

“We wanted to make sure we created a foam paddle that made sense and really fits the Joola innovation. A lot of our pro players haven't switched to foam coz they still like the honeycomb feeling where they get more touch, finesse and feedback. So we wanted something that made sense for the market, that is a high level, pro-level paddle that sits at a price point that people love. The FX is a great paddle that serves that purpose – effortless power.”

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We often ask fellow players how their game is going, but rarely how they are really doing. In recognition of World Mental Health Day (10 Oct), we turned the conversation away from wins and losses to ask whether Pickleball can help us find balance. Of any sort.

Qn: How does Pickleball help with mental wellbeing?

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Some play for rankings. Others play for bragging rights. The Dinking Problem? They’re quite happy playing for the next round. With a philosophy that puts good company ahead of competitive glory, this merry bunch turns every Reclub session into Happy Hour. With “Pour Some Sugar (and Tequila) On Me” as their unofficial anthem, you know they’re not taking themselves too seriously. Here’s to less DUPR and more Don Julio. 

The Dinking Problem: It all started with a classic romantic comedy setup: Ghaz met Bobby, Bobby met Ron, and together we realized we wanted a place to play Pickleball without the soul-crushing pressure of elite athletics. We wanted zero stress, maximum good vibes, great music, and a few questionable drinks. Coz let's be honest. Your third-shot drop always looks a little more graceful when your depth perception is slightly off. Turns out, a lot of people were looking for that exact same energy, and The Dinking Problem was born.

TDP: Our membership criteria is pretty simple: if you have good vibes, you’re in. We welcome everyone; beginners, pros, dinkers, drinkers, and honestly, your grandma if she brings the right energy. We let our members call the shots, from the court playlists to game themes and beverage menus. Looking ahead, we want to team up with other clubs and spread our glorious, chaotic good energy across the entire Pickleball ecosystem.

TDP: Our members have taken ‘community spirit’ literally. They now bring their own food and drinks to liven up court nights. We’ve had nights so legendary that a player literally had to be carried off the court. We also regularly ignore the rulebook to host chaotic 5v5 matches on a single court. It’s total mayhem, zero logic, and 100% pure Pickleball joy.

TDP: Absolutely. Life is too short to take yourself – or your kitchen play – too seriously. Surround yourself with good people, spread love & keep the rallies fun.

If we had to sum up our entire philosophy in a few ways:

Club Motto: Courts. Conversation. Community.
Club Slogan: Come for the Pickleball. Stay for the People.

And of coz our Unofficial Song: Pour Some Sugar (and Tequila) On Me!

October 10th was World Mental Health Day. In today's fast-paced world, where many struggle to maintain balance, discussing mental health has never been more essential. At ATP, we generally take a lighthearted view of Pickleball and its (mostly) fun impact on our lives. Given the occasion though, we asked ourselves if Pickleball could serve as an outlet for enhancing mental resilience? Thankfully Allkin introduced us to Keeshan Menon, Head of Mental Health Service (Northeast Region) who was happy to share his thoughts.

Keeshan: I think it's possible, but we need to stop thinking of being unplugged as having to disappear to a beach somewhere with no Wi-Fi. Sometimes, it's simply about being present in whatever you're doing, without feeling the need to check your phone or think about your next task.

For me, having a good work-life balance is important. Work matters, and I care about what I do, but I don't think we should have to sacrifice our entire lives to be good at our jobs. We need things outside of work that remind us we're more than our job titles, our responsibilities or our next KPI. That could be Pickleball, going for a walk, having dinner with friends, or just doing absolutely nothing for a while. And I think we need to get comfortable with doing nothing without feeling guilty about it. Mental wellness doesn't always have to be another thing on your to-do list. Sometimes, the point is to give yourself permission to stop doing.

K: One of the things I enjoy about Pickleball is that it gets me out of my head. Work can be mentally demanding, and when you're responsible for a team, there's always something to think about or something that needs your attention. It's very easy to carry all of that around with you. But when you're on court, you must be present. For a little while, you're not thinking about emails, meetings or work problems. You're just playing. I think that's a pretty good metaphor for life.

We spend so much energy worrying about things that have already happened or things we can't control. Sometimes, the healthiest thing we can do is acknowledge what happened, learn from it and focus on the next point. Also, it's a good reminder that I'm allowed to do something simply because I enjoy it. Not everything needs to be productive, measurable or tied to a personal development goal!

K: I think S’poreans are very good at turning almost anything into a competition! We optimise our careers, our finances, our fitness, and now sometimes even our hobbies. Before we know it, our downtime has become another performance review. I enjoy improving and there's nothing wrong with wanting to play well. Competition can be fun, motivating and a great way to challenge yourself. The question is whether you're still enjoying the game, or whether your self-worth has become tied to winning.

My advice would be to decide what you want from the game before you step onto the court. Is it to improve your skills? Get some exercise? Spend time with friends? Meet new people? All of those are perfectly valid goals, and winning doesn't have to be the only measure of a good session. Ultimately, I'd rather be the person people enjoy playing with than the person who wins every game but nobody wants to invite back.

K: Losing a job, or even facing the possibility of losing one, can affect much more than our finances. Work often gives us structure, a sense of purpose, social connections and a way of understanding our own identity. When that changes, it's understandable to feel unsettled. We live in a society where a lot of our identity can be wrapped up in what we do, where we work and how successful we appear to be.

Practically, I'd encourage people to focus on a few things.

First, maintain some structure in your day. You don't need to recreate a nine-to-five job at home, but having a regular routine that includes movement, rest and time for job searching can help you feel more grounded.

Second, stay connected. Don't isolate yourself just because you're not working at the moment. Meet friends, spend time with family, join a community or pick up an activity. Something like Pickleball can be great because it gives you physical activity, social interaction and a reason to get out of the house. Just remember that not everyone who plays during the day is unemployed, and not everyone who is unemployed will want to talk about their situation.

Third, focus on what you can control without putting pressure on yourself to solve everything immediately. You can update your résumé, reach out to people, explore new skills and seek advice. You can't always control how quickly the right opportunity comes along.

Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help. That could mean talking to someone you trust or seeking professional mental health support if the stress starts affecting your daily life.

Resilience isn't about pretending everything is fine or forcing yourself to stay positive all the time. It's about being able to adapt, draw on support and take the next step even when things are uncertain. And sometimes, that next step might simply be getting out of bed, going for a walk and meeting a friend for a game. Small things count, too.

K: We tend to treat work commitments as non-negotiable, but exercise, rest, friendships and the things that make life enjoyable are often the first things we sacrifice when work gets busy. The irony is that these are often the things that help us manage stress and sustain our performance in the long run. So, find something you enjoy and put it in your calendar. It could be Pickleball, swimming, dancing, a weekly dinner with friends or simply a regular walk without your phone in your hand. Start small and choose something you can realistically maintain.

And when you're doing it, let yourself actually enjoy it. You don't have to turn every hobby into a side hustle, every workout into a personal best or every free hour into an opportunity to be more productive. For me, a sustainable life isn't about getting the absolute maximum out of every hour. It's about building a life where you have the energy to show up for your relationships and yourself.

Dear ATP readers, If you have any questions or concerns regarding mental health, please know that support is available. You can reach out to Allkin Mental Health Service through the following channels:

Your well-being is important. We encourage you to seek help if you need it.

In the spirit of Halloween, we asked Pickleball folks about their ‘horror’ stories. And as always, they did not disappoint. 🤭

As Halloween descends upon us, remember that the scariest creatures aren’t always lurking in the shadows. Some are standing across the net. Others are our doubles partners. Heh.

So look out for one another and remember, someone has his/her camera phone out at any point in time. Have a frightful Halloween now! 👻🧡

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