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Battle in the Palace 2025 Tournament Action !

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4th Annual ROYAL LePAGE 
Battle in the Palace Mixed Tournament
Tournament Report
Prepared by: Richard Chambers - Tournament Chair - Vernon Pickleball Association

Another Great Tournament

 

The 3rd of our five 2025 tournaments was held on Saturday, May 10, 2025, with a capacity crowd of 142 mixed teams competing in 173 matches in the 4 rth Annual ROYAL LePAGE Battle in the Palace Mixed Doubles Tournament. There was great demand for this tournament and unfortunately 44 players could not be accommodated. Supported by 30 volunteers and 20 referees, the tournament ran from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (It was scheduled to finish at 6:30 and finished at 6:28!)

 

Sponsor

 

A big thank you to Darcy Sochan, ROYAL LePAGE Realty for his ongoing support of our one day Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed tournaments. Over $3800 was raised for the VPA.

 

The Engine That Made It Happen

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Once again our talented, dedicated, hospitable volunteers make it happen. Some jobs require a specific skill set, others require enthusiasm, warmth, and friendliness, some a willingness to do what needs to be done. All require commitment. Thank you so much to THE TEAM.

 

One of the rewarding aspects related to our volunteers is the interest from other tournament directors who wish to visit and observe, in particular, our ‘command centre’ and see how we do it. Then they wander the complex to see how it all comes together and soak up the atmosphere. They usually leave in awe. While we are not perfect, we learn from each tournament what we should tweak to make it an even better experience for players, spectators, volunteers and the VPA. Based on the feedback from players and referees they enjoy participating in our tournaments and know they will be run to a consistently high standard.
 

We will keep on, keeping on.

Referees

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Thanks to the great job our referees did.  Thirteen of the twenty referees are graduates of our referee training program.  This is due to the ongoing commitment of our Head Referee, Suzan Ross.  We have our fingers crossed for several of our referees who will be assessed at the Kamloops tournament in July for Level 1 status or upgrading to Level 2.

 

The A Team - our volunteers

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  • Announcers – Darcy Sochan, Danny Crema

  • Check in Desk –Gayle Imrie, Debra Howeihe

  • Facility Maintenance – Diane Brochu, Karen McKinnon

  • First Aid – Winston Seto, Liz Ling

  • Food and Drink – Sherry Morrow, Mabel Poulin, Cindy Favali, Angela Morgan

  • Medal Management – Pat Andrews, Sue Chambers

  • Referee Coordinator –Bruce Imrie, Rod Williams, Suzan Ross

  • Runner - Simon Chambers

  • Set Up – Tracey Cameron, Brent Bolin, Pat Andrews

  • Score Sheet Verifiers – Shirley Knorr, Pam Reiger

  • Score Desk – Julie Varrie, Sandra Ross, Diane Tutush, Bev Friesen, Suzanne James

  • Social Media and Photos – Anne Longley, Judy Mori

  • Sound System Set Up – Brent Bolin, Winston Seto

  • Take Down – Warren Fredrickson, Joann Little

  • Volunteer Coordination - Winston Seto, Earnan Block, Anne Longley

 

Wow! Outstanding Performances

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Ok - apparently it wasn’t just our volunteers who performed.  Our competitors were outstanding -   gold medals in 8 of 13 events(!!!), silver medals in 5 of 13, and bronze med in 7 of 13. Wow, wow, wow. One of the encouraging trends is players continuing to move up in skill level.  A couple of years ago we had few VPA competitors in 4.5 or 5.0 level - now we have gold medalists.

 

Next Up….​​

 

 

  • Pickleball Depot Rally in the Valley – 3 day tournament – Women, Mixed and Men – September 26-28, 2025 – more information to follow.

Thank you to all the volunteers for a job well done!

Congratulations to the following VPA Members
for their Outstanding Performance!

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