Twenty Years After Tatler's List, Kid Chan Builds Networks on the Pickleball Court
Andrew LeeTwenty years after Malaysia Tatler listed him among its 100 People You Must Know in Asia, Kid Chan is being profiled for something the 2006 list never mentioned: pickleball.
ReSkills features him in its IMPACT 2025-2026 publication under the heading "ICONSBYKIDCHAN & Paddle Power: Building Networks Through Pickleball", which Kid shared on 22 Sep.
From Wedding Lens to Paddle
The Tatler listing appeared in the 2006 edition of the magazine's social season guide, when he was best known as a wedding photographer. The ReSkills feature picks up the story from there: more than 20 years as a celebrity photographer, working alongside Hollywood A-listers, prime ministers and Forbes-listed billionaires, in environments where "pressure was constant, and performance never paused."
Pickleball arrived during a period of change. "Oncourt, the noise slowed," the feature says, and "Pickleball became more than a sport. It became a reset." Kid is now a certified MPA Level 1 coach, and since 1 Sep a global brand ambassador for Luzz Pickleball, a move Pickle361 covered at the time.
Court Over Conference Room
The networking half of the title is visible in his own feed. ICONSBYKIDCHAN runs a weekly pickleball social at PXP, described by one regular as "very 1 Malaysia": different races, same court, same team. Kid also plays at corporate rooms. He joined a Founders Rally at Tomaz Pickleball Club, and a Court of Millionaires day on 20 Aug at Pickleball Playground in Shah Alam, where Richworks marked its 18th anniversary with 100-plus founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders on court.
Six Figures for St John Ambulance
The feature's recognition list is where the sport's reach shows. It credits Kid with organising a charity pickleball day that engaged 500-plus participants in a single day and raised six figures for St John Ambulance Malaysia. It also lists him as a moderator at the Asia Pickleball Summit's Business Roundtable, the ReSkills-organised summit held at One World Hotel, Petaling Jaya, on 16 and 17 Jul 2025, and says the Malaysia Parliament Backbenchers Club recognised his pickleball advocacy.
His podcast, The KidChan Show, carries the same theme, with conversations on growth and reinvention. Guests listed in the feature include UPA-A president Jason Aspes, Reclub's founder and pro and creator Tanner Tomassi.
His own case for the format, from a post about a founders' event: "You learn more about a person in one game than in ten meetings. Who they are under pressure. How they handle a bad shot."
This article is based on social media posts and historical data tracked by Pickle361.
