Rumble in the Church
Sunday, March 29, 2026
4th edition underway! With limited indoor options, we took a chance on Fraserview Mennonite Brethren Church (and its attached gymnasium), but discovered a dicey choice for us pickleball snobs. Their floor color and dim lighting had a sketchy contrast vs the ball color, and our brief yellow vs orange vs yellow (again) debate still left most of us wanting (with our weak weary old eyeballs). Nonetheless their 4-court config worked out for our newly crafted 4-hour, 4-team (of 6 with 2-co-captains) and a dreambreaker-finale, super format. Fight!
Team White (Baak Faan) came in as self proclaimed and consensus underdogs, as per our lotto predictor contest, but would their prophecy come true? Meanwhile, the rumor mill assigned Team Black (Stacked Black Aces) as pre-tourney favourites, but the proof was NOT in the pudding as they ended up last and on the wrong end of all 5 (of 6) razor thin 11-10 round-robin matches. Team Blue (Team Tank) did their darndest to stay out of the tank position, taking 3rd position in the protracted "any-pair Dreambreaker rally scoring" consolation finale, while Team Red (Red Hot Dinks) turned in a great effort but fell short in their championship finale 21-19 to the eventual (and suprising?) champs, Baak Faan!
A good slate of battles, but unfortunately time constraints forced scrapping the entire semi-final format, falling back to a rushed 1v2, 3v4 finale, due in part to so many tight matches running a bit late. Great to see the team bonding out there, as well as witnessing some of those all-hug team cellys after their sweet victories. A long day, but a fun day too, capped with a delicious meal at Shanghai River Restaurant afterwards. Huge congrats to all our team and individual award winners:
- Top Team - Team White (Baak Faan)
- Outstanding Team - Team Black (Stacked Black Aces)
- Outstanding Player (7 wins) - Addie Ceralvo
- Most Improved Player - Cindy Chan
- Lotto Predictor Winner (4/4) - Addie Ceralvo
Mucho gratitude to our volunteers for making this event possible: Anika Terton, Cassandra Mak, Caroline Empson and Greg Nowak. Until next time, Vincent and Jason will see you back on the courts!
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