Fitness club company Life Time said it has created the “ultimate” ball for the booming sport of pickleball.
Courtesy: Life Time
Tired of playing with pickleballs that he found inconsistent in bounce and durability, Life timeFounder and CEO Bahram Akradi decided to take matters into his own hands.
On Friday, the luxury fitness and lifestyle company announced it has created what it calls “the ultimate pickleball.” Life Time will debut the ball exclusively at the company’s clubs in late August.
“This was a problem with the sport and it needed to be resolved, so we basically stepped in and sorted it out,” Akradi said.
Akradi has gone all-in on the sport that has been the fastest-growing in the U.S. since 2021, and remains bullish on its potential. It’s a key part of the growth strategy for Life Time, whose shares are up 57% so far this year. On Aug. 1, the company raised its full-year outlook after a strong second-quarter performance.
Life Time will soon sell the ball in its racquet sports stores and online. The company is still determining the price.
Life Time's “athletic country clubs” feature more than 700 permanent pickleball courts. The company plans to expand that number to 1,000 courts by the end of 2025.
“Our goal is to give people the right spaces to play, the right experience and the right consistency,” Akradi added.
Akradi said the company has already invested between $50 million and $100 million in pickleball and that the sport has generated between 6% and 7% of Life Time's membership fees.
Life Time also hosts professional tournaments at its clubs for Major League Pickleball and the Professional Pickleball Association. The professional organizations use Vulcan as their “official ball,” but Akradi hopes to change that in the future.
In May, the company announced Lululemon as its official tennis and pickleball apparel sponsor.
The company has also partnered with tennis legend Andre Agassi and top-rated pickleball player Ben Johns to further grow the sport.
