Pickleball Rules

The name might 'sound' spicy and true to the name, the sport is interesting and full of zing. This sport is called 'Pickleball.' It is a relatively new addition to the games involving racquet, ball and net accompanied by an obstruction. This game in fact, has evolved as a result of combining different aspects of the earlier mentioned games.

Pickleball? What is it?

Well, it may appear like a brand of pickle, but even if the name is funny, it is a racquet sport and is played on a court having the same dimensions as a badminton court. In fact, some other aspects of badminton have also been incorporated in pickleball. It is played using a hard paddle and a wiffle ball. Thus, the technique required for pickleball differs from others. In addition to that, the net is lower than most other racquet sports, which facilitates faster play. The size of the court is 20 feet X 44 feet, almost akin to badminton for both doubles and singles. Now I guess we have a fair idea of what is this game. Let us make a serve towards the rules of the game now!

Pickleball Rules and Regulations

Vertical and Horizontal
These are the lines on the pickleball court which I am referring to. To begin with, the rules say that the baseline is at the back of the court and if any ball bounces past this line, it is considered to be out. A player has to stand behind this line for a serve to be held as valid. The baselines and sidelines should be painted to make the dimension of the court visible and to easily recognize if the ball falls outside the line.

No'lley
No'lley is a term which I have coined right now for those reading this article. No'lley is a combination of non and volley zone, that is non volley zone. This is one basic rule which distinguishes pickleball from other racquet sports. This refers to a line at a distance of 7 feet from the net. Hitting the ball before it bounces if your foot is on or between this line and the net or stumbling into this zone after hitting the ball is not permitted.

A Handful of Serve
The player on the right has to serve first as per the rules. The ball has to touch the paddle below the waist by an underhand motion. Further, the ball has to land in the court area diagonally, past the non-volley line. The server has to hit the ball without bouncing it first. For being just to the players only the first player can serve during the first service of the game.

Give it Back to 'Em
The team or a single player receiving the serve has to let the ball bounce before the serve is returned. To move on, the team or player serving has to let the ball bounce before they hit it back. This implies that there have to be 2 bounces during the first 2 hits of the rally, called the double bounce rule.

What is the Score
A team scores when it wins a rally which it served. After a team or a single player wins a point, the players switch sides. Thus, the serve comes from the other court. The team scoring 11 points first wins. Thus, we can see that pickleball scoring rules are pretty easy to understand, no complexity there!

To add to all this, there is a norm that if the server has an even number score, he or she will serve from the right side of the court and left side of the court if the score is odd.

This way, we have come to the end of the game! All the Best!