What is Pickleball

  • Pickleball is a fun sport that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis.

  • Played both indoors or outdoors on a badminton-sized court and a slightly modified tennis net.

  • Two or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, over a net.

Serving

  • The serve must be made underhand.

  • The paddle must pass below the waist level.

  • The server must hit the ball in the air without bouncing it.

  • The serve is made diagonally crosscourt.

  • The serve is a fault if it lands out of bounds, if it fails to clear the non-volley zone, or if it hits the net and does not land in the proper service court.

  • Following the serve, each side must make at least one groundstroke prior to volleying the ball (i.e., the ball must bounce once on each side before volleys are allowed).

Scoring

  • Only the serving side can score points.

  • Games are typically played to 11 points and a team must win by 2 points.

  • In tournament play, games may be to 15 or 21, win by 2.

  • In Doubles: Each team gets two serve attempts (one for each player) before the serve rotates to the other team. The first server continues to serve until a fault is made, and then the second server serves until they fault. After both servers fault, the serve goes to the opposing team.

Volleys & Non-Volley Zone
  • After the ball has bounced once on each side, both teams may hit the ball in the air without letting it bounce. This is called a volley.

  • However, players may not volley the ball from within the non-volley zone.

  • The non-volley zone is the area on both sides of the net within 2.1 metres.

  • Players may not hit the ball in the air while standing in this zone, although they may reach over the net to hit a ball that has bounced in the non-volley zone.

Faults

  • A fault occurs when the ball is hit:

    • Out of bounds,

    • fails to clear the net,

    • is volleyed from within the non-volley zone,

    • or is hit into the net or onto the ground before it clears the net.

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