RacketPro launches APAC pickleball tour to grow coaches and community

RacketPro’s APAC Pickleball Tour 2026 opened with a clear mission: build the sport from the ground up in Asia-Pacific, not just add another stop on a calendar. The multi-country project covered Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and other regional markets, with Malaysia and Vietnam singled out as the strongest current engines for participation and development.

The push went beyond match play. RacketPro Organization, described as a gold-standard group in international pickleball coach certification and education, framed the tour as a development platform for coaches, athletes and local communities. Its RPO COEBRA Intensity Program was folded into the initiative to create learning opportunities across instruction, tactical understanding, leadership development and career advancement. That matters because it points to a real infrastructure play: if the coaching base gets stronger, the player pool usually follows.

Connor Nguyen, RPO APAC’s managing director, said Malaysia already has “a fantastic following and first-class facilities,” a sign that the country is moving past novelty-stage pickleball and into something more organized. Collin Johns, RPO’s global technical director, pushed the point further, saying Malaysia and Vietnam appear to be far ahead of the region in participation and development. In practical terms, that suggests both countries are no longer just hosting interest. They are setting the pace.

That edge could make them the region’s next serious tournament hubs. Johns argued that the improvement in coaching and player-development structure gives Malaysia and Vietnam strong potential to become frontrunners in future international events. For amateur pickleball, that is the real takeaway: better coaches, better pathways and better facilities create more playable, more competitive environments for the next wave of local players.

The Olympic angle was part of the conversation too. Nguyen and Johns both said pickleball’s rapid growth could eventually help push the sport toward Olympic inclusion. That is a long road, but the APAC tour shows what the sport needs before that debate becomes serious: deeper participation in countries like Malaysia and Vietnam, stronger development systems in places like the Philippines, and regional programs that treat education as seriously as competition.