Ryan Tack Owner

Justin Koning Owner

Ryan was born in Las Vegas, Nevada where he still resides today. A true local with deep roots in the city. He grew up active in sports and community activities. While attending Durango Highschool in Las Vegas, Ryan tied a national record with 16 RBI’s in a single game while going 6 for 7 at the plate with 4 home runs. He was also the starting pitcher for the game and threw a 4-hitter with 11 strikeouts. This feat landed him in Sports Illustrated and later drafted by the FL Marlins and NY Yankees in the amateur drafts. Most recently, Ryan has worked as a head pit boss for high-roller rooms at The Wynn and Fontainebleau casinos in Las Vegas. Ryan started playing pickleball in 2020 at Whitney Mesa park, LV during the pandemic and quickly fell in love with the sport. He has been playing at Sunset park since its opening in 2021.

Justin was born in Lafayette, Indiana and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sports have always been a big part of Justin's life, with baseball being his first love. Before moving to Las Vegas, Justin spent 11 years in Tokyo, Japan working as a civilian contractor for the United States Air Force on Yokota Air Force base. During his time with the military, Justin completed a bachelor's degree in Information Systems Management, took master's degree classes for Project Management, traveled to 20+ countries, started a business serving the local military community, and played competitive sports with the base teams. Justin started playing pickleball in 2023 with no prior experience in racquet or paddle sports. He attributes his rapid development to baseball, where hand speed and ball tracking was key.

 

Our Story & Mission

Hi! I'm Justin, co-owner of Lethal Pickleball.

I met my business partner, Ryan, on a pickelball court in Las Vegas in 2023 when I was a beginner. Ryan was a more advanced player, but was patient and made me feel welcome transitioning into the sport. For me, this showed a lot about his character. Although the pickleball community is full of good-hearted and welcoming people, it can be challenging for beginners to fit in around higher level players.

After playing with Ryan a few times, he recommended I try one of his paddles that he developed for personal use. I was using an expensive, top of the line paddle at the time like most beginners who don't know any better. However, Ryan knew the paddle I was using wasn't the right paddle for me. I played one game with his paddle and never looked back. I was limiting errors. I wasn't popping up as many dinks. It had a softer feel on resets, but had more power on overhead put-a-ways.

Organically, a demand for the paddles started to grow. More and more people were asking to demo Ryan's paddles and retiring their name brand paddles for them. Mind you, at the time, Ryan's paddles were completely un-branded. It was just a great paddle that the community loved. No marketing, no pro-sponsors making the paddles look cool, no hype that was generating an appeal for them. That's when I really knew we had something here.

I pulled Ryan aside one day and asked if he wanted to turn this into a real business. He was open to the idea, but he was adamant on helping players get a top quality paddle for a fraction of the cost of high-end manufacturers. His passion was serving the community that he loved so much. I told Ryan that we could carry out his mission on a larger scale and stay true to his core values while still building a successful business.

A few short months later we had branded paddles, USAPA approval on our first attempt and Lethal Pickleball was born. Manufacturing concluded in February 2024 and after rigorous quality control and inspections, we are proud and honored to bring the Lethal Weapon X paddle to market.

Whether you are a beginner, intermediate player or a professional, we welcome you to join the Lethal family. Where you will be more than just a customer, but a valued member of our community. As a community, we will band together to provide support, resources, knowledge, friendships to serve you on your journey both on and off the court.