Redbrick | BattlePong 2019: An Epic Battle of Paddles

BattlePong, Victoria’s first annual ping pong tournament for good, raised over $15,000 for charity.

They came, they saw, they left it all on the table! Over 300 spectators and players came out to the first inaugural BattlePong tournament on November 7th, 2019. T

he first of many more to come, BattlePong 2019 was a blowout success with over 17 teams, 14 sponsors and hundreds of spectators getting in on the action. BattlePong 2019 by Riptide Studios.

Together with the help of our local Victoria community, fellow sponsors, and crowds of spectators, BattlePong raised over $15,000 for its charity partners: The World Partnership Walk and The VIATEC Foundation—an organization that supports food security, education, homelessness, and other local initiatives.

“Whether playing or spectating, it was smiles all around at BattlePong 2019! We couldn’t have been happier with how the event turned out. We're beyond proud of everything we were able to accomplish alongside our amazing sponsors and my fellow BattlePong Committee for Year One. To see the community come out to support in support of such a great cause while enjoying a ping-pong-focused event was amazing.” - Neil Henderson, GM of Rebase by Redbrick, BattlePong Committee Member

By all accounts, BattlePong 2019 was a huge hit! A total of 64 players across 17 teams came out, some in full costume —Team “A Pong of Ice and Fire” of Flytographer took home the highly coveted award for best costume with their GOT-inspired team ensemble.

Upwards of 150 spectators joined in on the action, coming out to cheer on the players, chat with friends, and enjoy a night of tasty food and drinks courtesy of Hoyne Brewing—beer sponsor for Year One—and other local food vendors.

In the months leading up to the tournament, the teams trained hard, holding company-wide tournaments, and selecting their champions to represent them on the tables of BattlePong. The competition for Year One was stiff, but, in the end, there could be only one champion.

Shout-out to Bogdan Sokol, representing Kano Apps, for taking home the highly-coveted 1st place trophy for Year One. Attila Fritz of Schneider Electric and Tejesh Neroy of AbeBooks, came up close behind, placing second and third in the tournament.

As Presenting Sponsor for Year One of the tournament, we couldn’t be more thrilled about how it all turned out. What started as a simple idea quickly grew into a 300+ person event bringing together the Greater Victoria community in an epic battle of paddles, and all in support of two great causes.

Like many local Victoria tech companies, ping pong has been a core component of our culture at Redbrick since the beginning. Our in-house pong table has seen its fair share of company-wide ping pong tournaments, Beer Friday shenanigans, and battles for pong supremacy—we even built a custom Slackbot to organize our weekly tournaments for us. On any given day, you'll find at least two members of our team chatting over a game of friendly pong.

But when you boil it down, it’s about more than just a love for the game. It's an opportunity for our team to take a break from screens, stretch their legs, and connect over something completely unrelated to work. Accountants play developers, content managers battle against analysts, and co-ops get a chance to show their stuff—leaving it all on the table. So, when approached with the idea of organizing a community charity event centered around ping pong, it was only fitting that Redbrick take the lead as presenting sponsor.

Together with our fellow sponsors, volunteers, and the support of our local community, we raised upwards of $15,000 for charity. And that, is worth celebrating. So, we’d like to take a minute to honour and recognize those who made this amazing event happen.

Firstly, a heartfelt thank you to our fellow sponsors: Rumble, Hello Ventures, AOT Technologies, Dave Wallace of Riptide Studios, VIATEC, Checkfront, CHEK News, DoubleUp, Armon Arani Photography, Virtual CFO Solutions, Kano Apps, Hoyne Brewing, and YepDesk; we couldn’t have done it without you!

And, what would BattlePong be without the teams and players who participated in our BattlePong tournament? Shout-out to the teams of Global Wide Media, Rumble, Redbrick, Hello Ventures, Checkfront, AOT Technologies, VIATEC, Pretio Interactive, Schneider Electric, Workday, Leap XD, JSF Technologies, AbeBooks, Kano Apps, Rockland System Solutions, Flytographer, and KPMG for jumping in on the action.

Last, but certainly not least, we’d like to recognize BattlePong Organizers Neil Henderson, Rasool Rayani, Alisha Kelly, the entire BattlePong Committee, and all the volunteers who pulled long days and nights to help make this event happen!