Recently, we were honored to partner with the Vietnamese American Pickleball Association (VAPA) for their second pickleball charity tournament, providing custom medals with logo services. Let’s take a look at our experience creating the perfect custom race medals for this pickleball tournament.

when did pickleball start getting popular？

Pickleball is a racket sport that originated in the United States. It combines characteristics of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. The court is smaller than a tennis court, the barrier to entry is low, and people of all ages can participate. In recent years, it has rapidly gained popularity around the world.

VAPA is a mature association with a strong sense of social responsibility. In addition to organizing sports activities, the association also actively raises funds to provide life-saving heart surgeries for children in poverty in Vietnam and carries out various public welfare and charity promotion projects, building a strong social impact around the world.

Requirements for Budget, Lead Time, and Product Quality

VAPA came to us with a highly creative race medal design. They had a clear design concept: a dragon pattern surrounding the VAPA Logo, cleverly incorporating pickleball elements. They hoped to find a manufacturer that could respect the design, control the details, manage the production schedule, and ultimately deliver on time with a result that satisfied them.

How did MAXEMBLEM handle the entire process?

Maxemblem has more than twenty years of hands-on experience in custom products. The biggest challenge of this project was the intricate dragon-scale texture on the medal, which placed high demands on machining precision and manual finishing. But we were happy to take on the challenge of craftsmanship. Throughout the production process, we maintained communication and kept following up on the project progress, striving to achieve a high degree of design accuracy, complete details, and stable finished-product quality.

1、Reproducing the Design While Preserving Clear Details

To truly reproduce the customer’s design, Maxemblem focused on the following three key areas:

Multi-level 3D relief modeling: Using multi-dimensional 3D die-casting technology to ensure that the dragon’s whiskers and horns, the tension of the dragon’s claws, and the direction of the dragon scales remained clear and three-dimensional, eliminating a flat appearance.

High-precision engraving and manual finishing: After mechanical engraving, experienced craftsmen individually refined the recessed areas. Through the contrast between polished bright gold and the natural metal finish, we created a strong sense of layering within the 4-inch (10.16 cm) size.

Perfect edge integration: The intersection between the bold “VAPA” lettering and the delicate dragon scales was handled cleanly and precisely, ensuring that the text was not overwhelmed by the surrounding details and strictly preserving the proportions of the original design.

2、Ensuring Finished Product Quality

Custom Medal Material: Zinc alloy 3D die-casting, with the raised areas polished and plated in bright gold, while the recessed areas retain the natural metal finish to maximize the 3D relief effect of the medal.

custom medal size: The medal uses a 4-inch (10.16 cm) size and 3 mm thickness. The larger size provides sufficient space to showcase the complex design while also giving the medal a greater sense of weight and ceremony.

custom medal ribbons: neck ribbons for medals are the finishing touch of sports event medals and are also an aspect that many businesses tend to overlook. The material and color of the ribbon are important factors in enhancing the overall quality of the medal.

Therefore, we selected high-density polyester satin ribbon, which has a smooth and skin-friendly surface.
The black ribbon with yellow lettering gives the medal a more distinctive look.
The edges were finished with overlock stitching to prevent fraying, avoiding loose threads or unraveling when athletes wear the medals.

3、Completing the Process from Design Confirmation to Delivery Within 25 Days

Even though this was an advance custom project for VAPA, we fully understood the importance of custom race medals to an event.
 From finalizing the design to the customer receiving the products, the entire process took only 25 days.
Within this tight schedule, we completed design confirmation, mold making, mass production, surface plating, ribbon production, multiple rounds of quality inspection, and shipping in sequence.
The customer ultimately received all the goods in full on August 14 and provided positive feedback.

The Result: Winning Active Recommendations Through Quality

The true standard by which we measure our work is not only the delivery of the products, but also the customer’s genuine reaction when they receive them.

When VAPA received this batch of custom medals, they were very satisfied. The dragon details were clear and sharp, the plating was flawless, and the custom ribbons printed with the Logo gave the medals a premium look.

Why Was MAXEMBLEM Able to Complete This Successful Collaboration?

20+ Years of Manufacturing Experience

Maxemblem has more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing custom metal products and is familiar with every stage of medal production, from design, mold making, and sampling to mass production. When facing complex dragon patterns, Logos, and relief details, we can identify potential production challenges in advance and make timely adjustments during the sampling stage.

Professional Service Process

From artwork confirmation to production and delivery, we maintain timely communication with our customers.
We understand the details that customers truly care about and confirm the size, craftsmanship, color, and material before production to reduce discrepancies between the design and the finished product.

Stable Production Capacity

We have a mature production system that supports customized medal sizes, shapes, Logos, reliefs, plating, and ribbons.
There is no fixed MOQ, and both small-scale events and large tournaments can be arranged according to specific requirements.

Complete Supply Chain

Rich craftsmanship and supply chain resources allow customers to choose suitable materials, surface treatments, ribbons, and packaging solutions according to their design effects and budget.

Flexible Delivery Arrangements

Production is arranged according to the order quantity, craftsmanship complexity, and event schedule.
Standard orders can be delivered according to the regular production cycle, while rush options can also be evaluated for time-sensitive projects to accommodate different event schedules as much as possible.

Using Custom Medals to Capture the Honor: Maxemblem Partners with Sporting Events Worldwide

The charm of sports lies not only in competition, but also in the sweat, team spirit, and connections between people. When an event incorporates a charitable purpose, this connection gains even greater and more lasting social value.

At Maxemblem, we understand the weight behind every custom medal. Over the past twenty years, we have created custom medals for various sports events and activities around the world. From pickleball, soccer, and basketball leagues to marathons, school sports days, and charity runs, our work can be found behind all these events. With mature manufacturing craftsmanship, we give every effort a tangible way to be remembered.

The value of a medal goes far beyond ranking. It records the athletes’ day-to-day training, captures the process of teams fighting side by side, and carries the spirit and message that event organizers want to convey.