The 2026 VOU Residents Mixed Doubles Tourney Was Epic

If you had told me five years ago that pickleball would completely overshadow basketball in my life, I would have called you insane. I mean, I was and still am a huge fan of the game of basketball, but there is something that pickleball does to the human brain that words cannot express.

I went from playing once or twice a week to now twice a day, seven times a week, to the point where my beautiful spouse almost hid all my pickleball paddles. (No, she didn’t. She just thinks I’m addicted to it and need to go on a pickleball detox. Can you hear me laughing out loud?)

I’m saying all this to say that pickleball is such an incredible sport. It’s great for people from all walks of life, and not only that, but it is a community builder. I’ve met people whom I would have otherwise never even shared a hello with had it not been for pickleball.

Pickleball progress can be either linear or exponential; it all depends on how badly you want it. In sum, your level of play and progress is directly correlated to your ability to pick up instincts quickly. And the better you get, the more you want to challenge yourself, hence participating in tournaments.

VOU Mixed Doubles One-Day Tournament

Today, I participated in the VOU mixed doubles one-day tournament as a Knight, and I couldn’t be any happier, even though I lost in the quarterfinals.

I went into the tourney with an amazing partner with whom I’ve built a symbiotic relationship on the pickleball court. We’ve learned to encourage and play with each other without barking orders at one another, she can testify to it.

So, we went into it very confident. I mean, being the Bone Collector, I fear no one put in front of me, even Ben Johns. He can get his bones collected courtesy of yours truly, too.

But I did go in with a sore back. No excuses, though.

I was put into Group A, which had some heavy hitters, dingers, and killers, among whom were the young prodigy Alexey, aka Yellow Wolf (also the tourney organizer), and his mom Lana ( the terminator) ; Yang, aka Bruce Lee, and his lovely wife Zoey ( the gentle giant); Dan the Professor; and Honghong ( happy feet)  and her hubby.

The group was stacked.

Battling Through Group A

My partner and I went into our first game and got eviscerated, 11–1. Then we went toe-to-toe against Dan and his partner and fell short, 11–7. We got killed by Bruce Lee, 11–5, but finally hung on by a thread and won our final group game to make the quarterfinals.

We met Asim and Kim in the quarters and were pretty confident we were going to come out on top, but we got humbled and had to exit in the quarterfinals. Asim aka deer in the headlights and Killa Kim put their foot on the gas pedal and never looked back.

But losing doesn’t mean we go home.

I stayed to watch the other competitors, and boy, was I pleased with the level of play I saw.

An Incredible Championship Match

The final between the Baby-Faced Assassin and his wife and partner, Shanshan, against Bruce Lee and his wife was a back-and-forth battle.

The first game was won by Yang, who covered most of the court and delighted our eyes with some of the most incredible rallies you’ll ever see from amateurs.

Jun bounced back in the second game and evened the series, so it made for an unforgettable final game that had us all on our toes. I mean, the level of play was incredible, and you couldn’t tell who was going to come out on top since the game was tied at 9.

Eventually, Yang (Bruce Lee) had to pull some tricks out of his bag to overwhelm Shanshan and the Baby-Faced Assassin and win Game 3, 11–9.

Alexey and his mother, Lana, also topped Asim and Kim to win third place and earn a spot on the podium.

A Stacked Field

Some of the best players who were in this tourney included Cindy the Killer Bee, Bo the Great Wall, Luc the Banger and his mom Cat, Anand and Beth. I mean, some household names were there today, and they all did amazing.

Words cannot express how wonderful this tourney has been, and I can’t wait for the next one.

Special thanks to Alexia for the hydration station without which we’ll be all dead.