Kenton Stehr

Kenton founded his company, Nippon Pickleball Holdings, to build products and services pickleball players love to help on-ramps millions of people to pickleball in Japan. He was raised in Japan but also spent over 10 years since high school in the US. While working for a tech startup in the US, Kenton met pickleball and fell in love with the it. He realized that this sport could greatly benefit Japan and has tremendous potential for growth. In late 2023, he moved back to Japan to help grow pickleball in Japan and start his company.

Since then he has launched Mino Pickleball, a Japanese paddle brand, and Pickle Tokyo, focused on pickleball media and SNS, as well as being a board member of the Pickleball Japan Federation, organizing to help host the first international tournament in Japan at Ariake Tennis Forrest Park. As he operates and expands his business, his focus is on growing the sport of pickleball in Japan.