The founder of Tennis Channel, Steve Bellamy, announced on Monday the launch of TYPTI, a new racquet sport played on a standard pickleball court with a 22-inch strung racquet, a 3.5-inch diameter channeled foam ball, and a new scoring system.

The national competitive play circuit will begin with the first event on February 25 at the Calabasas Pickleball Club. The professional division will guarantee over $100,000 in total prize money with at least $500,000 of prize money events in year one. Year-two events will have over $1,000,000 in prize money featuring an integrated draw allowing players from all over the US to participate locally to start.

“We’re creating an infrastructure of tennis and pickleball clubs, entrepreneurs, family offices, racquet sport mavens and lovers, and cities who understand the economic impact of participatory sports,” said Bellamy, Chairman and CEO of TYPTI Inc. “We’re sanctioning tournaments and league teams, and looking for brands wanting to leverage sports to market their products. We’re also scouring the country for amazing players who can be the first generation of TYPTI stars. Basically, we’re building a really smart racquet sport and creating a community for the infrastructure.”

A mixture of badminton and tennis, the sport is nearly noiseless and easy on the body, with low shock at impact and no overhead serve. It’s incredibly easy for beginners and chess like for the pros. With the explosion of pickleball courts across the country, TYPTI launches with tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure already in place for players to adopt and embrace the sport.

Anyone who has a pickleball court now has a TYPTI court.

“TYPTI reminds me of snowboarding in 1986,” said Tony Robbins, No. 1 New York Times best-selling author, and the world‘s No. 1 life and business strategist. “Snowboarding exploded profits at ski resorts by adding a second use case to the mountain. That’s what TYPTI will do for pickleball clubs and tennis clubs with pickleball. And the accessibility is unparalleled. While it’s mind-blowing what the top players are doing with the ball, beginners can have great rallies in minutes. That’s not typical for racquet sports, where the barriers of entry prevent the majority from using them as a tool for physical fitness. TYPTI blows the doors off those barriers and will be an unparalleled tool for physical fitness and mental health.”

“I’ve spent my career helping racquet sports grow because they’re a powerful gift to society,” added Bellamy. “Our goal is not to cannibalize other racquet sports like tennis and pickleball, but instead bring the 25 million former players in the U.S. who don’t play anymore back on the court. If they play TYPTI and then migrate to tennis, pickleball, badminton, table tennis or padel, then that will be a huge success for the entire industry.”

The new sport has inked a number of important partnerships with collegiate, racquet and coaching organizations, including the Racquet Sports Professional Association with over 14,000 teaching pros.

There is also an agreement in place with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association to have a significant prize money collegiate championship.

OLO brand racquets and balls are available at TYPTI.com with more brands coming shortly.

TYPTI is financed by many strategic investors including Tony Robbins, Drew Brees, Chris Pine, JJ Abrams, Bert Kreischer, Tiffany Haddish, Heather Mills, Kyle MacLachlan, Melissa Rivers, Giovanni Ribisi, Kenny Moore, Jen Prince, Nick Kyrgios, Milos Raonic, Prakash Amritraj, JT Mollner, Gil Henry, David Flaherty,Desiree Gruber, Andrew Segal, Barry Allen and Tony Pritzker to name but a sliver of the nearly 100 blue chip investors.