Honolulu Pickleball Company
Several reviewers named Honolulu Pickleball Company’ s J2K paddle the paddle of the year in 2024. Honolulu has continued to thrive with its summer release of four foam paddles that received rave reviews.
The brand has not been hindered by somewhat confusing paddle names that include the J2K, J2Ti, J2NF and J2NFK. Nor has its business apparently been hurt by mixing religion and pickleball— Honolulu is an openly Christian-based brand, even referencing a Bible verse with“ John 3:16” at the top of its paddles.
Company owner Jam Esteban shuns the spotlight.“ Thank you for approaching us, and [ while ] we do want to spread our mission and the gospel, we work as a team and none of this would be possible without any one of the team members. For the glory of God, he has blessed us and put us in this position.”
Like many other successful small paddle companies, each Honolulu paddle is under $ 200.
Unsicker says,“ Honolulu got people’ s attention with the rise of Kevlar in combination with their unique J2 hybrid shape that was more forgiving and lighter weight than anything else made— and still is the best hybrid shape in my estimation.
“ And now they released another big hit in their J2 shape with one of the early best-performing foam designs.”
Another popular paddle reviewer, John Williams— whose YouTube channel is called“ JohnKew Pickleball”— says,“ The biggest factor I see that has allowed these three companies to be so successful is being on the cutting edge of paddle trends and innovation... and being more affordable than established brands.”
Other small paddle companies that have produced quality paddles and made names for themselves include Bread and Butter, Chorus, Friday, Neonic, Pickleball Apes, Ronbus, Spartus, Body Helix and Mark Pickleball. The paddle industry has boomed like the sport itself. For pickleball’ s first 20 years, all paddles were made of plywood and were heavy. In 1984, Arlen Paranto, helped by his son Steve, made the first lightweight composite paddle. Arlen was an industrial engineer at the aerospace company Boeing and put into his paddles lightweight panels with Nomex honeycomb cores that were used in aircraft interiors.
Arlen Paranto died in 2019 at age 89 and is in the Pickleball Hall of Fame along with his son. Steve says,“ My dad would be blown away with the number of paddle companies that exist today. He would have been flattered that so many of these paddles are basically just like his with small changes. He would have loved the growth of the sport.”
The“ Davids” in the paddle industry have clearly made their mark, and their success will likely inspire more dreamers like David Groechel, Daryl Wang and Jam Esteban. In the paddle business, like on the pickleball court, good dinkers can beat bangers. •
HONOLULU PICKLEBALL COMPANY AMBASSADORS AND PRO PLAYERS PRYCEN AND JAMIE HAAS.
Matthew Schwartz spent 40 years in television news and won more than 200 awards, including four Emmys and four Edward R. Murrow awards for investigative reporting. His 2020 memoir,“ Confessions of an Investigative Reporter,” was an Amazon # 1 bestseller. He writes a weekly blog for Hudef Sport and plays pickleball every day.
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2025 | MAGAZINE 39