A Simple Guide to Pickleball
Pickleball is one of America’s fastest-growing sports, with millions of people playing.
Pickleball is one of America’s fastest-growing sports, with millions of people playing. Several NBA stars like LeBron James and Kevin Love have recently bought into a Major League Pickleball team, which indicates the sport will become even more popular. Most people have heard of pickleball, but many aren’t sure about its rules.
This simple guide to pickleball discusses some rules and equipment needed for this fun sport.
What is pickleball?
Pickleball is a mixture of tennis, table tennis, and badminton. The necessary items are a paddle and whiffle ball (a plastic ball with holes), and the game is played on either an outdoor or indoor court. Players can play single matches or doubles, just like in traditional tennis.
Since a pickleball court is smaller than a traditional tennis court, the sport isn’t as strenuous, making it appropriate for people of all ages.
Rules of pickleball
The game begins with a player’s serve. Then, the player uses a wooden or composite paddle to hit the pickleball to the other side, aiming diagonally. The player must keep the front foot behind the baseline and hit the ball with an underhand swing to properly serve the ball. The game always starts from the right-hand corner, and players are allowed one fault. When playing doubles, each player gets to serve once. If both players fail to serve appropriately, the opposite team takes over the serve.
The serve and the return of that serve must bounce first. In other words, players can’t volley the ball during the first two hits. After that, volleys are allowed, but only if the players aren’t in the no-volley zone (or kitchen).
Only the serving player or team may score points. After each point is won, the serving team switches sides of the court. The game is played to 11 points, and there needs to be a two-point difference for a team to win. Every match is best two out of three games, with the third game being played to five points.
What is a fault in pickleball?
Like in tennis, certain moves in pickleball are considered a fault and cause a point loss. These are:
Hitting the ball out of bounds
Volleying the ball while in the no-volley zone
Volleying the ball on the first serve or return
Not clearing the net
Pickleball equipment
Those who want to play pickleball need paddles, a whiffle ball, a net, and a court. A pickleball court measures approximately one-third the size of a traditional tennis court (20 x 44 feet) and features a net that divides it in half. The no-volley zone is the seven-foot area closest to the net on each side. The playing area measures 20 x 15 feet and is divided into equal rectangles.
Explore pickleball
Pickleball improves physical fitness and flexibility, strengthens muscles, and increases blood flow and insulin production. In addition, it’s a sport that’s fun and easy to play. Since a pickleball court doesn’t take up much space, many homeowners decide to install one in their backyard. Experienced and skilled professional court technicians can install, repair, or resurface a pickleball court for years of family fun.
Apex Court Builders specialize in construction, resurfacing and repair of tennis courts, pickleball courts, basketball courts, and more. We do business in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego! Call us today! (480) 384-9141.
