Pickleball - a sport considered new in Vietnam - marked an explosion with statistics showing that in the first quarter of 2025 alone, total revenue from items related to this sport has nearly reached 230 billion VND, an increase of 2,000% over the same period last year and is also nearly equal to the entire revenue of 2024 (271.9 billion VND - the latest data from the e-commerce analysis platform Metric.vn).
Of course, there are still opposing views and perspectives, but the important thing is that pickleball has another affirmation of its progress, when the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism approved it as one of 47 sports in the competition program at the 10th National Sports Festival, taking place in Ho Chi Minh City (November 2026).
Only appearing for a short time to be selected for the list at the congress is of course a big resource, but at the same time, it is also a decision that is both bold and... challenging. " Opening the door" for pickleball to the largest sports playground in the country not only creates novelty but also shows the management's mindset of updating world trends.
From now on, everyone will have to go together to find and answer questions about readiness in more than a year. There have been tournaments organized, even at national level, but the number of units established this sport (to train and coach high-performance) is not large. It will be necessary to further promote factors that meet the criteria of the congress, so that it is not a "movement subject" or a "strange subject for fun".
To be fair, the appearance of pickleball is a positive signal, helping to diversify the picture of Vietnamese sports, opening more doors for those who never thought they could compete in a big playground. But to avoid turning it into a "seasonal fashion", a systematic strategy is needed.
Perhaps, after the 10th Sports Festival, there will be a more specific assessment, but from now on, there needs to be solid steps for everything to not just be a "phenomenon".
