RPO will bring its assessment-driven coach certification to Life Time's national pickleball program, the largest court network in the country.

NORTH BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- RacketPro (RPO), the global certification and membership body for pickleball coaches, today announced it will serve as the strategic coaching education provider for Life Time Pickleball (NYSE: LTH) across the company's national network of athletic country clubs.

The RPO curriculum was designed by Collin Johns, former world No. 1 in men's doubles, around a hierarchy of assessment: a structured framework for diagnosing where a player actually breaks down and applying the right intervention in the right order. Instead of handing coaches a generic script, RPO trains them to read a player, prioritize what to fix, and coach the cause rather than the symptom.

The relationship will give Life Time pickleball coaches and pros across the company access to RPO's Level 1–3 certification pathway, SafeSport training, JOOLA professional equipment and more, all created to support coaching and play at the highest standard.

"I built this curriculum around the problem I saw everywhere in the sport — coaches who could demonstrate a shot but couldn't tell you why a player kept missing it," said Collin Johns, former world No. 1 in men's doubles and architect of the RPO curriculum. "Assessment is the whole thing. If you can find the real breakdown and fix it in the right order, you can move any player forward. Life Time gives us a chance to put that in front of more coaches, and more players, than anywhere else in pickleball."

Over the past two years, Life Time has become one of the largest providers of pickleball courts in the United States with more than 900 permanent indoor and outdoor courts at 152 clubs, investing heavily in its people, programming and places to build the most premium member experience offered. The RPO relationship supports that growth by raising the standard of coaching across Life Time locations nationwide.

RacketPro exists to build the professional infrastructure pickleball has been missing. As the sport has exploded, coaching quality has remained wildly inconsistent, with no shared standard for what a qualified pickleball coach actually knows. RPO sets that standard and holds coaches to it, so players, facilities, and the sport itself can trust the credential. The Life Time collaboration extends that mission to one of the most visible stages in the sport.

"Life Time has done something no one else in this sport has done at scale," said West Shaw, CEO of RacketPro. "They've built the court infrastructure and matched it with an experience members genuinely love. Our job is to make sure the coaches delivering that experience are teaching the right fundamentals, built on methods from one of the best minds in the game. Life Time members deserve coaches who can diagnose their game, not just run drills. That's exactly what RPO trains coaches to do."

A Different Approach to Coach Education

Most coaching certifications test whether you can recite the rules. RPO tests whether you can teach.

RPO certification combines an online curriculum with an in-person workshop, liability insurance, and annual continuing education to keep coaches current. Through RPO's partnership with JOOLA — the official paddle sponsor of the PPA Tour — every certified coach also receives professional-grade equipment as part of their membership.

About RacketPro (RPO)

RacketPro is a global pickleball coach certification and membership organization built to professionalize coaching across the sport. RPO certifies coaches through an assessment-driven methodology, supports them with insurance and continuing education, and partners with leading facility operators to raise coaching standards at scale. RPO is an official partner of JOOLA.

About Life Time

Life Time (NYSE: LTH) empowers people to live healthy, happy lives through its more than 195 athletic country clubs across the U.S. and Canada, the complimentary and comprehensive Life Time app featuring its L•AI•C™ AI-powered health companion, and more than 30 iconic athletic events. Serving people ages 90 days to 90+ years, the Life Time ecosystem uniquely delivers healthy living, healthy aging, and healthy entertainment experiences, a range of unique healthy way of life programs, highly trusted LTH nutritional supplements and more. Recognized as a Great Place to Work^®, the company is committed to upholding an exceptional culture for its more than 50,000 team members.

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SOURCE RacketPro