Pickleball Tourism Just Got Real with MAH KL Chapter’s Christmas Charity Pickleball Tournament
If you believe the hype, the market for pickleball tourism seems set to explode, so it was interesting to see that the Malaysia Association of Hotels’ KL Chapter (MAH KL) decided to see what all the “fuss” is about and organised an inaugural industry tournament, inviting staff from their KL Hotels and also associated companies to take part in a friendly team tournament that doubled up as a charity fund-raiser.
Speaking with BE Lim Chairperson of the MAH KL chapter, he explained “MAH KL decided on this inaugural pickleball event as this sport seemingly is on an exponential rise and uptake and it would be opportune to raise awareness and include our member hotels who already are playing it as well as encourage new teams to take it up, all for the industry camaraderie and a great cause for charity before we end the year 2024.”
B E Lim cheering from the sidelines
So whilst the aim of the event was to raise funds as part of MAH KL’s annual CSR programme, it also was an opportunity to foster camaraderie between industry colleagues, it can’t hurt that those people at the centre of tourism and hospitality in the country are familiarising themselves with a sport that potentially seems destined to bring travellers to their resorts and retreats.
Proceeds from the MAH KL Christmas Charity Pickleball Tournament will be split between the two selected beneficiaries – the Stepping Stone Living Centre and Rumah Kebajikan Baitul Ehsan Al-Khairi.
MAH KL was quite ambitious in their aims for the event, bringing together teams from hotels across KL and Selangor who played against each other in Dreambreaker-style games made up of two pairs of men’s doubles and two pairs of mixed doubles playing in rotation in games of 35 points.
Given that many of the players were first-timers, it was amazing to see how quickly they all got the hang of it.
Isaac Raj, CEO of MAH was delighted with the activity “This pickleball game is a fantastic new initiative introduced by MAH KL Chapter. This game is refreshing, fun and a good team sport.
Isaac Raj (centre) with “Roomie” (an MAH associate member team)
But best of all this game is not too vigorous or strenuous whereby the “older” ones also can participate alongside. Nice to see both genders male and female, staff, management pitting their stamina and skills as a unit to score points.”
A total of 22 teams took part, along with a few non-hotel specialist pickleball teams leading to a competitive tournament, and steep learning curve for the novice players, in a day that was permeated with smiling faces and genuine team building.
The hotel teams that went the furthest in the main draw were Four Seasons KL and PARKROYAL Serviced Suites, both of whom got through to the quarter-finals before meeting with one of those specialist pickleball teams.
For those hotels that didn’t get through to the knockout stages, MAH arranged a special “plate” contest with AnCasa KL winning the plate final, VE Hotel/UOA taking runner up spot and bronze spoils being shared by Palm Garden Hotel and Hotel Royal Signature.
Did the hotels enjoy it? Well, there was talk of this becoming an annual event, so we think they must be catching the pickleball bug!
