About Pickleball

SIMPLIFIED RULES

The court is the same dimension of a badminton court. The net is 36 inches high at bothe ends and 34 inches in the middle. There is non volley zone (NVZ) 7 foot from the net, this area is often reffered to as the kitchen.

The Serve 

Play is always started by the player on the right hand side of the court. When a ball is being struck, the erver’s arm must be moving in an upward motion. The ball must come into contact with the paddle below the waist. The heas of the paddles must not be above the top of the wrist when contact is made with the ball.

The server must:

Keep both feet behind the back line when serving

Serve the ball to the opposite diagonal court

The ball must clear the NVZ (including the NVZ line)

Announce the score before each serve.  Starting with 0-0-2

There is no let in Pickleball.  If the ball hits the top of the net and lands in court the     point is live

Scoring

Points can only be scored by the serving team

Games are played to 11 points, but you must be 2 points clear to win

There are 2 serves per team with the exception of the first serve

It is called in the following order: server’s score, receiver’s score then the server number i.e. if the score of the serving team is 3 and the receiving team is  6 and the side serving is on their second serve the score would be 3-6-2

Playing the game

When the ball is served the receiving team must let it bounce before returning the ball. The serving team must also let the ball bounce before returning it, thus two bounces. You cannot volley a return of serve.

Volleys

You can only volley a ball from outside the NVZ.  If you make the volley from outside the NVZ and your momentum carries you into the NVZ this is still a fault. You can play the ball from Inside the NVZ as long as the ball has bounced first.

Line calls

A ball contacting any part of any line, except the NVZ line on a serve, is  “IN” A serve contacting the NVZ line is short and therefore “OUT”. If you are not sure if a ball is ‘in’ or ‘out’ then give the benefit of the doubt to your opponent.