Basic rules of pickleball
With this post, we want to start a small series of publications about the basics of pickleball. What is pickleball? What are the rules? What to do to play better?
We have already written something about pickleball in this article. But this time we want to focus on a brief overview of the game.
You’ve probably heard or read about pickleball somewhere and wondered what kind of game it is. It’s one of the most popular sports in the world. It is developing very rapidly in the United States, but it has also penetrated quite well into Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and other countries.
Roughly speaking, it is a mixture of table tennis, tennis and badminton. The pickleball court has two sides separated by a net.
The size of the court for singles or doubles is 44 x 20 feet (or 13.41 x 6.09 m).
There are four lines: baselines, sidelines, centerline, and no-hit zones. It is also called the kitchen. Those who are interested in more precise dimensions and specifications of the court equipment can download a PDF (in English).
Retrieved from usapickleball.org
All you need to play are pickleball rackets, a ball, and a few friends. Of course, it’s best to play on a professional court. But very often people play in parks, on general-purpose courts, in indoor spaces, or even on beaches. We composed a short review of 5 great paddles, where we described the criteria for choosing the right racket for you.
Pickleball is a sport for all ages and levels. You can play both in pairs and alone. Most often, it is played in pairs. And if you can’t find anyone, you can search among the rapidly growing community. Usually, these are very open and friendly people.
So, there is one player on each side of the court in their sector.
The game begins with a serve from below or a throw of the ball over the net to the opposite corner of the court. The main difference between serve and tennis is that serve must be made only by hitting the racket from below. There are no overhead serves.
Another feature of the rules is that the ball must bounce off the court both after the serve and after the first serve is hit. That is, it must bounce off the court twice in total (Two-Bounce Rule). Only then can you start hitting balls on the fly (in the air) and after the bounce.
Each round lasts until the first mistake is made: a double bounce, a ball out of bounds, a hit out, the ball hitting someone above the racket, a hit into the net, etc.
A special feature of pickleball is the non-valley zones or the kitchen. These are 2 zones 7 feet (about 214 cm) long on each side of the net. Players are not allowed to hit the ball on the fly from this zone. Contact with this zone is considered to be both a direct kick from this zone with at least one foot standing and a kick from the run-up, after which the player enters this zone.
You can also watch a cool video from the American athlete and USAPA Council member Stacey Townsend, based on whose comments this article was written:
