A Debut to Remember: Primary Black Kites Brings Home Victory in the First Pickleball Tournament
By Serena Chan
Pickleball was introduced to the RCHK primary Black Kites in Season 3 of the 2024-2025 academic year, and more training was arranged this year in both Seasons 1 & 3. The team has now expanded to more than 30 students training every Tuesday after school. We were so lucky to finally have an inter-school tournament this year.
Top left to right: Nathan Hu 6RM, Kian Chan 6RM, Isaac Chan 5RS, Shaun Liu 5RS
Bottom left to right: Lizzie Leung 6JF, Serena Chan 6KS, Emerald Ven Sung Ng 5RS, Georgia Funnel 5CV
Before the tournament, there was a team selection process. Students who were more confident were asked to go to the undercover playground for a mini tournament. The criteria to make the team were based on students' confidence and skill level, along with teamwork. A total of 8 students were selected, one pair of male students and one pair of female students from each of Year 5 and Year 6. The Boys’ team included Isaac Chan and Shaun Liu from Year 5, and Nathan Hu and Kian Chan from Year 6; the Girls’ team included Emerald Ven Sung Ng and Georgia Funnel from Year 5, and Lizzie Leung and Serena Chan from Year 6.
On the morning of the 28th of April 2026, a team totalling 10 of us, including Mr. Edwards and Mr. Farrar, our coaches, were gathered at the school and headed to International College Hong Kong (ICHK). Once we arrived, we enjoyed a warm welcome from some teachers with a quick briefing on the rules and a short warm up. There were 6 schools joining this tournament, including German Swiss (GSIS), French International (FIS), Kellet, Discovery Bay (DBIS), ICHK and us. The tournament was separated into a Boys’ category and a Girls’ category, both playing in doubles. Each team, consisting of a pair of players, was required to play 5 matches against each of the different schools in a round robin format in the first round. The total points of the 5 matches would decide the qualifiers to the semifinals and the finals. Each match ended either when one team scored up to 11 points or a maximum of 8 minutes elapsed. The tournament officially started at around 9:30am at the outdoor courts.
The weather was not favorable to the outdoor games because it was very windy and gave us a big challenge. The strong wind caused the pickleball to drift outside the line and made it harder to aim. We all played our best and after the round robin of 5 games, the Year 5 Boys’ team and the Year 6 Girls’ team won most of the matches and gained the highest points among all other schools. Both teams entered the final, with the Year 5 Boys’ team set to face GSIS and the Year 6 Girls’ team against Kellet.
During the finals, everyone was feeling nervous, but we managed to perform and kept approaching the net and volleying to win more points. After the close rallies, the Year 6 Girls’ team wrapped up with a 9-3 victory over Kellet, with Lizzie and myself putting up an unforgettable performance and snatching first place in the Girls’ group. The Year 5 Boys’ team had a very tight match and was just one point behind. They tried their very best to catch up but because of the 8-minute time limit, they were unable to take over the game.
Overall, it was a strong and encouraging result for all teams. Congratulations to the Year 6 Girls’ team on winning 1st place in the Girls’ Group category, the Year 5 Girls’ team for securing 7th place, the Year 5 Boys’ for achieving 2nd place in the Boy’s group category and the Year 6 Boys’ team who placed 4th. A wonderful and impressive result by our Black Kites pickleball team for the first time joining an inter-school pickleball tournament. Every team player showed amazing effort, teamwork and their dedication truly makes this tournament unforgettable!
A few words from our Black Kites Pickleball team coach Mr. Edwards to the students, “What a fantastic Pickleball tournament we had! None of our players are experienced Pickleballers, so it was challenging to adapt to learn the rules and tactics so quickly. Thank you to the team for being so willing to represent RCHK at the first ever Primary Pickleball Tournament and I hope you continue to develop your skills. Hopefully there will be a pickleball team in secondary!” He also prepared this video capturing the event, with some photos included too:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wIbJ4DHooKXmga6BiztvT3IrUNo0YEKT/view
Now, you may be wondering why pickleball has become such a popular sport; let me tell you why. First of all, pickleball has officially become an Olympic sport in the 2028 Olympics.
Secondly, pickleball is very friendly and convenient because the court is small and is suitable for any age. Even firefighters play pickleball during break time, you can search it up! It is also a family sport that is suitable for all age groups. It is now expanding rapidly across the world and Asia. In the US, pickleball is the fastest growing sport with more than one million children playing it. The Hong Kong government fully supports pickleball, and has opened up non-fee-charging outdoor badminton courts for pickleball and approximately 100 promotional activities for emerging pickleball in the community from 2025-26.
Some professional top tennis players have now switched to playing pickleball. For example, Andre Agassi and his wife Steffi Graf, both former professional tennis players and world tennis champions, are now playing pickleball in their 50s. They have now become pickleball professionals and are amongst the top pickleball players in the world. Also, our former local tennis professional player Jack Wong has now transitioned and become the top-ranked professional pickleball player in Hong Kong.
Agassi, as a former world champion tennis player, claimed that tennis is the harder sport overall, but pickleball is still difficult in a different way with a lot of tiny variables and success dependent on touch, patterns, and decision-making, not just power. He also believes that pickleball brings people together across ages and different backgrounds, and that the low barrier to entry is a big reason for its growth in its popularity. He believes the sport can help build community and even support clubs by getting more people playing the sport. An interesting thing he noticed, as a tennis-turned-pickleball player, is that some tennis skills translate, but many habits have to be unlearned for pickleball. He describes pickleball as a game of sensitivity, nuance, and managing “blood pressure” under pressure when playing. He also compared two hours of tennis, which can leave him energized, to two hours of pickleball, which can leave him mentally drained. He has worked on becoming a right-side player, using forehand dinks and skills, two-handed counters, and deception.
Furthermore, he also mentioned that pickleball has had a real positive impact on his life, especially because he can still improve at it in his 50s. “I’m not just liking it, I’m loving it. There’s so much nuance that creates opportunity. It’s challenging at every level and it’s a participation-centric activity.”
Pickleball has strong prospects as a school sport because it’s accessible and highly inclusive. It brings everyone together and creates meaningful opportunities. Following the growing success of pickleball in Hong Kong and worldwide, as well as our Black Kites team debut and achievements in our first inter-school pickleball tournament, there is lots of potential in pickleball development in school. With the same belief as Agassi that pickleball will continue to grow further as time goes on, just like it will in RCHK’s primary Black Kites pickleball team, hopefully the secondary department will also consider establishing a Black Kites Pickleball team in the near future to provide more opportunities for every student, and position RCHK at the forefront of this emerging Hong Kong educational sport: pickleball. Let's go Black Kites!