Pickleball

History:  In the summer of 1965, in Washington, Joel Pritchard and his friends were bored.  They attempted to set up for a badminton game, but no one could find the shuttlecocks.  They lowered the net, used a whiffle all, and made paddles of plywood.  The name came from a term called “pickle boat”.  This term refers to the last boat to return with its catch.

The Game:  Pickleball may be played with two (singles) or four (doubles) players on a tennis or badminton court.  The 3 foot net divides the court.  The court dimensions are 20’ by 44’.  The players hit a whiffle ball with wooden paddles.  The object of the game is to score points. 

Scoring:  The person or team must be serving to score.  A game is to 11 points and be 2 points ahead of opponents.

Serve:  1) One foot is behind the back line.

             2)  The serve is underhand.

             3)  Paddle swings below the waist.

             4)  There is no bounce.

             5)  Serve diagonally across the court.

             6)  Ball must clear the non-volley area.

             7)  Serve must be good, no second try.

             8) “Let” balls, are taken over.

Faults:  1)  Hitting the ball out of bounds.

              2)  Not clearing the net.

              3)  Stepping into the non-volley area and volleying the ball.

              4)  Hitting the 1^st ball on the volley.

              5)  Letting the ball bounce twice on your side of net.

Doubles Play: 1) Right hand court player serves first.

                         2) Play continues until a fault or point is scored.

                         3) When a point is won, the serving team switches with his or her partner and the    

                              same player serves the next point.

                        4) When the serving team faults, they stay in their same court and the second     

                             partner serves.

                        5) When the 2^nd fault occurs they lose the service and the opponents have their

                             turn at service.

                        6) Players only switch courts when scoring

Terminology:

Baseline: the line at the back of the Pickle Ball court.

Centerline: The line bisecting the service courts that extends from the non-volley line to the baseline.

Crosscourt: the opponent’s court diagonally opposite a player’s.

Fault: An infringement of the rules that ends the rally.

Foot fault: Failure to keep at least one foot behind the baseline while serving.

Lob:  Hitting the ball in a high arc to the back of the opponent’s court.  Ideally designed to clear an opponent who has advanced toward the net.

Net serve: A serve that touches the top of the net and lands in the proper service court. It is replayed without penalty.

Non-volley zone: A seven-foot area adjacent to the net within which you may not volley the ball.

Rally: Hitting the ball back and forth between opposite teams.

Serve:  an underhand lob or drive stroke used to put a ball into play at the beginning of a point.

Sideline:  The line at the side of the court denoting in and out-of-bounds.

Side out: Occurs when the serve moves to your opponent’s side.

Volley: To hit the ball before it touches the ground and bounces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLWj2LXecHU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEYsymCtIDY (Rules-Part 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox3YlsvewMA (Rules-Part 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVFB97Hvlxs ( Rules-Part 3)