Lunar New Year pickleball exchange boosts community play in Ho Chi Minh

Nearly 30 players turned out at Thanh Thai Pickleball Club on January 11 for a lively Lunar New Year exchange celebrating the Year of the Horse. The event drew employees from Eximbank Ly Thai To branch, editors and reporters from Người Lao Động newspaper, and representatives from the sport brand Joma in Vietnam, marking a social and competitive welcome to 2026.

Organisers framed the exchange as a chance to mark the holiday, deepen links between the groups, promote mutual learning, and boost fitness. Matches ran spirited and fast-paced across sessions, with players mixing recreational play with more tactical matchups that highlighted dinks, third-shot setups, and baseline drives familiar to regulars on the circuit. Eximbank Ly Thai To’s experience showed: their pairs captured most of the top prizes, reflecting the branch’s growing presence in community-level competition.

Awards were handed out to the top-performing pairs in two competitive tiers. Serie A results were: 1. Thanh Dan - Cuc Pham (Eximbank Ly Thai To branch); 2. Vinh Luan - Ai Van (Eximbank Ly Thai To branch); and 3. Hoang Duy - My Uyen (Người Lao Động Newspaper). Serie B honors went to Chieu Quan - Quynh Huong (Eximbank Ly Thai To branch). Those finishing at the top took home recognition that both rewards play and helps seed future friendly rivalries between clubs and workplaces.

This exchange is part of a wider cluster of community and provincial pickleball tournaments taking place across Vietnam in early January 2026, reflecting the sport’s steady expansion beyond big-city club scenes. For club managers and players, these small-format exchanges are practical tools: they test pairing chemistry, sharpen situational play, and broaden local ranking awareness without the logistics of a full tournament. For workplace teams, events like this offer a low-barrier way to build camaraderie and fitness while competing.

Organisers say the format encourages mixed-experience play and cross-group coaching during courtside breaks, which helps newer players pick up court craft faster. Clubs looking to copy the model can schedule short seasonal exchanges around holidays, rotate partners to boost learning, and formalise brief post-match feedback to turn social play into measurable improvement.

The takeaway? Use holiday windows to get on court and mix your partners. Short, friendly exchanges like Thanh Thai’s are where dinks turn into setups and workplace teams become regular contenders. Our two cents? Bring a partner, work your third shot, and treat these exchanges as practice with a medal at the end.