Introduction

It doesn’t matter whether you love pickles or don’t care for them one bit. Pickles have nothing to do with pickleball — no vinegar, brine, or cucumbers are involved. We’re hoping you aren’t disappointed, but if so, we highly recommend Canning and Preserving For Dummies as your next book purchase.

If you are here for pickleball, be assured that just about anyone can play it, and we want you to enjoy this sport as much as we do. Pickleball is good for both your mind and body. Going beyond the studies showing that exercise improves physical and mental health, pickleball offers the added psychological benefit of being a highly social sport. If you’re ready to make dozens of new friends, get in better shape, and challenge yourself with some casual (or serious) competition, you’ve come to the right sport — and the right book to help you get the most out of it.

Pickleball is serious fun. People all over the world are discovering the joy of play again. Why should recess have to end just because you’re an adult? You’ve probably heard the buzz about celebrities getting hooked on the game and building pickleball courts in their backyards. Fortunately, you don’t need to be a millionaire to go all-in on pickleball. It’s an inexpensive and accessible sport. Pickleball is the people’s game!

This book is for beginners, intermediate players wanting to improve, and advanced players looking for new strategies to add to their toolbox. Pickleball For Dummies is one of the most comprehensive resources you can find about everything pickleball. As you play more and more, this book will serve as a guide to your ongoing development and improvement.

About This Book

All you need to get started playing pickleball are a paddle, some balls, good shoes, and a court to play on. Although the game is easy to learn, it’s full of nuanced strategies to master if you want to advance to higher levels. In this book, we take you through every aspect of the game, with detailed explanations, diagrams, and photographs to help you understand the more complex points.

Pickleball For Dummies starts with an overview of the sport, the rules, various body mechanics involved, and how to think before you dink. We go on to explain all the different shots and strategies used in pickleball, as well as how to prevent possible injury. After you’ve mastered the fundamentals, this book can continue to serve as a helpful resource for advanced strategies in both doubles and singles. We also cover ways to boost your mental game, find the right coach or clinic, understand the world of tournament play, find ways to volunteer, and much more. At the end of the book, we’ve included a glossary of terms and expressions that you’ll read in this book and hear people using on the court (with our own spin on some of them, just for fun).

This book also covers etiquette on the court, where to find places to play, and ideas for organizing your own fun events. One of the best features of Pickleball For Dummies is that we address all skill levels, because this sport is played by kids and grandparents, professional athletes, and everyone in between. We're certain you'll discover something practical and invaluable in the following pages.

Note: We apologize in advance for the frequent use of the word fun. It's because, well, it's the best word to describe playing pickleball! (Sorry, not sorry.)

Foolish Assumptions

Although pickleball is a sport for people of all ages and athletic abilities, we did have to make some assumptions about you while we were writing this book. Here’s what we came up with:

You’ve either never played pickleball or you want to take your play to the next level, improve your skills, and learn the finer points of pickleball strategy.

You’ve seen advanced players hit dazzling shots and may want to know how to play just like them!

You understand that practice is the only way to get better in any sport, so you’re ready to practice on your own or with friends, or to seek more training.

Conventions Used in This Book

We use the following conventions throughout the book:

All web addresses appear in monofont in the print book and as live links in the e-book. (Note that we haven't inserted any extra punctuation if an address breaks across a line.)

New terms appear in italics and are closely followed by an easy-to- understand definition.

Boldface is used to highlight the action parts of numbered steps and keywords in bulleted lists.

As a final note on the convention front, we recognize that every player is different, and we kept that in mind when writing this book. For example, even though we may seem to tell a right-handed player to do pretty much the reverse of what we tell a lefty, we often provide the instructions for both right-handed and left-handed folks.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book, you find icons in the left margins that alert you to information you need to know. You find the following icons in this book:

Tip Text marked with this icon includes suggestions for different things you can do to improve your game. The tips are practical and easy to implement.

Remember If you take nothing else away from Pickleball For Dummies but the information marked by this icon, you will still have a solid foundation for years of pickleball fun.

Warning When you see a paragraph marked with this icon, pay attention because you’re about to absorb something you need to know, both to avoid making mistakes and to stay safe and healthy while you play.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this book also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. Check out the free Cheat Sheet by searching this book’s name at www.dummies.com. The Cheat Sheet offers an at-a-glance reference for scoring, serving, and what you can (and can’t) do in the kitchen.

Where to Go from Here

If you don't have a thorough understanding of pickleball yet, you may enjoy starting with Chapter 1 and reading your way through the book, from cover to cover. Or feel free to go straight to the topics that interest you and flip around to areas you want to focus on. Chapter 2 covers all the rules of the game, for example, and Chapter 3 tells you about the equipment you need. Chapter 12 covers intermediate and advanced strategies.

We designed this book to be a resource for you throughout your development as a pickleball player. No matter where you start reading this book, you'll find practical advice to inspire you to get to the courts and play your best!

Part 1

Starting Out: Let the Dinking Begin!

IN THIS PART …

Discovering the origin and benefits of pickleball

Understanding the rules and basics

Checking out the gear you need

Finding places to play

Adapting to pickleball from other sports

Chapter 1

Welcome to Your New Favorite Sport

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Finding out what pickleball is

Bullet Brushing up on the history of the game

Bullet Discovering the benefits of playing pickleball

Before coauthor Reine discovered pickleball, she was your typical work-from-home programmer leading a boring, sedentary lifestyle. Some weeks, she wouldn’t leave the house for several days in a row. She felt isolated, depressed, and out of shape. Clearly, she needed a hobby! After failing to find much interest in knitting, hot yoga, soap making, or matchstick model building, something new in the adult learning class catalog caught her eye: pickleball! This sounded right up her alley. From day one of starting to play, she was hooked. She not only enjoyed the game but was also meeting a lot of interesting, fun-loving people and laughing more than she had in years. In a very short time, pickleball brought joy back into her life, transformed her health and self-confidence, and led to many close friendships.

This story is not unique to Reine. We’ve heard variations countless times, told by people from all walks of life. Former athletes are discovering pickleball and competing again for the first time in decades, igniting a spark they once thought was lost. Lonely folks are finding themselves immediately welcomed into a community of people who share a passion for this quirky, addictive game. Those struggling with various health issues are finding pickleball to be a safe, accessible option for getting more fresh air and exercise (definitely way more fun than using an elliptical.) The list goes on and on. Can pickleball save the world? Probably not, but there’s no doubt it’s saving lives.

Who’s Playing Pickleball? Everyone!

Why, you may ask, would you want to get off of your comfy, custom-indented spot on the couch and go running around a tiny court chasing a plastic ball? Here’s why: It’s fun! Pickleball is pure joy. Despite its silly name, it’s an amazing game. It has action, patience, surprises, athleticism, power, finesse, strategy, trash talk (all in good fun), and so much more.

The rules of the game have made it perfect for players of all ages. Does your shoulder no longer allow you to hit an overhead serve? No problem — the serve is underhand! Do you suffer from some abdominal swelling (a.k.a. overeating), or dislike running long distances? This sport is typically played as doubles on a small court, so you don’t need to train for a marathon. It’s not uncommon to see players of three different generations on the same court enjoying the game together, as you can see in Figure 1-1.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc./Courtesy of Getty Images

FIGURE 1-1: Pickleball is fun for everyone, young and old!

The learning curve is short in pickleball, but you can spend a lifetime trying to master it. You can pick it up in less than an hour and enjoy the challenge indefinitely because there is always more to learn. Therein lies the joy for many of us. People play the game at swanky country clubs as well as small city parks, schools, and prisons. It’s the same game, no matter where you play it.

Now, don’t get us wrong; this sport can definitely be physically challenging, and is played by elite athletes at the highest levels. Multiple professional pickleball tours take place with amazing players who constantly push the limits of the sport. This game will continue to grow and change. One thing we can say with certainty is that pickleball is here to stay. Welcome to your new healthful addiction! (It’s like having broccoli as your passion. Pickleball has a better ring to it than broccoliball, though.)

In this book, we cover why people love to play pickleball, how and where to play, and the proper body mechanics for safe and effective play. We take you through all the different shots, the fine art of dinking, and how to strengthen the mental part of the game. If you choose to advance into intermediate levels, we take you on a deep dive through improving, training, and even playing in tournaments. Pickleball is quite social, offering many different opportunities to meet new friends. This comprehensive book on the game of pickleball can serve as a handy reference tool for anything you want to know about the sport as you begin to play, play more often, possibly get addicted as so many others have, and more.

In this chapter and the rest of Part 1, you dip just briefly into the origins of this wonderful sport and then get to know the basic rules and scoring. We also cover the burgeoning world of pickleball equipment, gear, and fashion. We give you the low-down on the different kinds of courts, where to find them, and how to find people to play with. Are you a former soccer star or tennis ace? If so, you'll want to read Chapter 5 for some help with transitioning from other sports. Part 1 gives you all the information to get started in your new pickleball life.

Pickleball in a Nutshell

Created in 1965, pickleball is a hybrid of tennis, table tennis, and badminton. You play the game on a court with a three-foot high net, and the aim is to hit a perforated plastic ball over the net with a paddle (about twice the size of a table tennis paddle) in a way that prevents your opponents from returning it. At first glance, it looks a lot like tennis on a miniature court. It involves less running than tennis, which is great if your knees don’t like that sort of thing. Pickleball has unique rules that place a high emphasis on precision and strategy. The sport, which has a multigenerational following, can be fast-paced and competitive. Pickleball is a fast-growing sport all over the world, with more than 5 million players and counting.

Fun and accessibility were at the heart of pickleball from the very start. It was designed to be a game that everyone could play. After players are introduced to the sport, they often find that they can't stop smiling. It's so easy to become addicted! You may find yourself waking up in the morning, looking forward to playing pickleball, possibly after dreaming about it all night. You will start looking for pick-up games anywhere you can find them — a gym, local park, tennis club — you name it. You’ll start recruiting all your friends to play so that you can keep talking about pickleball nonstop without seeing them roll their eyes so much. Then you'll probably want to learn more and improve. Pickleball For Dummies is for anyone with the enthusiasm to step on the court, understand the rules and fundamentals, perhaps move on to more advanced strategies, and, of course, have a blast playing.

Getting Everyone in on the Act

Joel Pritchard (shown in Figure 1-2) was a congressperson from Seattle who spent summers with his family and friends on Bainbridge Island, Washington. One summer in 1965, the kids were complaining of boredom. Joel and his friend, Bill Bell, felt there must be a way to get kids and parents to play together, so Joel set out to create a new game. Failing to find enough tennis rackets, he tried four table tennis paddles and a wiffle ball. The table tennis paddles didn't work so well, so the dads crafted some larger wooden paddles to use. They started to play on the old badminton court in the yard, and the kids lowered the net to waist height. Soon there was laughter, some shrieking, and a lot of rallying back and forth. They introduced the game to another friend, Barney McCallum, and made up some rules and a scoring system (with some inspiration from badminton). From there, the game has continued to evolve to this day.

We’ve encountered more than one version of how the sport’s unique name came about. One story from Barney McCallum claims that the game was named after Pritchard's dog, Pickles. Peggy Pritchard, Joel's daughter, points out that the dog came later, however. She says that her mother, Joan Pritchard (a competitive rower in college), came up with the name, loosely derived from the term pickle boats that college rowing teams use for the odds and ends members of their team. The odds and ends were much like the random pieces of equipment Pritchard had grabbed to play the new game. Whichever story rings true, the quirky name is as fun as the sport itself.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc./Courtesy of Pickleball, Inc.

FIGURE 1-2: Pickleball pioneer and U.S. Congressperson Joel Pritchard (left) with Dan Evans, Governor of Washington (right).

Here's a quick timeline of pickleball's evolution:

1965: Pickleball is created by Congressperson Joel Pritchard and his friends.

1967: The first official pickleball court is built on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

1972: A corporation is formed for the new sport.

1975: Articles begin being published about America’s newest racquet sport.

1976: The first known pickleball tournament in the world is held at South Center Athletic Club in Tukwila, Washington.

1982: The United States Amateur Pickleball Association (USAPA) is organized to encourage the growth and advancement of pickleball on a national level, and the first official rule book is published two years later.

1990: Growing exponentially each year, pickleball is now played in all 50 states.

1999: The first pickleball website is launched.

2001: Pickleball is introduced for the first time at the Arizona Senior Olympics.

2008: The first mass-media exposure of the sport appears on ABC’s Good Morning America, which airs a live, in-studio segment on pickleball that includes a brief demonstration.

2009: The first USAPA National Tournament for players of all ages is held in Buckeye, Arizona.

2014: The Pickleball Channel is launched.

2016: USAPA reports 17,000 members and over 4,600 places to play.

2019 The Sports Fitness Industry Association 2019 report indicates that pickleball continues to be one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S. as participants reached 3.3 million.

2021: Pickleball is featured on NBC’s The Today Show, CNBC, BBC News, and Live with Kelly and Ryan. Stories are published in top-rated publications including the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Allure, the Boston Globe, the Economist, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Parade, and Axios.

2022: More than 5 million people are playing pickleball all over the world. Washington State’s Governor Jay Inslee signs a bill into law that makes pickleball the official state sport of Washington.

As the preceding timeline shows, the sport of pickleball has grown gradually and steadily over the decades. As baby boomers started to retire, it grew faster, and then the pandemic hit in 2020 — and boom! The sport exploded. U.S. News and World Report said that pickleball encouraged recreational opportunities closer to home, with participation surging by nearly 40% between 2019 and 2021. Each year, more and more people are playing pickleball all over the world.

Discovering the Benefits of Pickleball

One of the reasons we wrote this book is to set the record straight. For example, many people assume that pickleball is played only by retirees and older people. Not true! People aged four to 100 are playing pickleball. About a third of players are under the age of 25, and this number is growing steadily. Pickleball is being integrated into many schools’ Physical Education programs, and a whole new generation of kids is growing up loving the game.

The many good reasons to play pickleball start with its impact on body and mind. The health benefits of regular exercise are obvious, and pickleball is a relatively low-impact sport yet provides a great workout. Your body releases endorphins while you play, improving your mood. Keeping score and devising strategies to win are enough to keep your brain engaged for hours. The significant social aspect of the sport means that it’s easy to meet lots of new people — and the truth is, making new friends as an adult can be hard! Your mental, physical, and emotional well-being are all connected, and pickleball checks every box.

Here are some of the top benefits to playing pickleball:

It’s easier to start playing than most sports. Sure, the scoring seems kind of quirky at first, but the barrier to begin playing is very low. Chapter 2 tells you everything you need to know to start playing real games your first time on a court.

It’s available year-round. You can play the sport indoors or outdoors, in any season.

You can find many places to play. As Chapter 4 describes, you can already find courts in many parks, gyms, athletic clubs, and community centers, and many cities are busy converting basketball and tennis courts to pickleball this very minute. Resorts and residential communities are also actively adding more pickleball courts for their residents.

You can easily find other players. User-friendly online resources and handy apps help you find people to play with wherever you are, as you find out in Chapter 4.

The sport is affordable. No fancy gear is required — you just need a paddle, a ball, and a positive attitude. Playing is often free in places like public parks.

You can improve your fitness. The multidirectional movement in pickleball improves strength, balance, and agility. Quick bursts of play action provide interval-like training to boost your cardio fitness.

The matches are often played quickly. Pickleball is great for short attention spans, young and old. With quick games and rotating players, it’s constant fun.

It’s a multigenerational sport. Family and friends of all ages can play together. Hello, bonding!

It improves social skills and boosts confidence. Newbies are warmly welcomed onto the court to play. We all started just like you! can be heard on pickleball courts everywhere.

You get to use your brain. Strategy and placement rule over raw athletic speed and strength, so you can work on your pickleball game even while waiting in line at the grocery store or commuting to work.

You get to channel your inner-kid. Playing pickleball is so much fun! Everyone needs more fun in their lives.

This chapter gives you many great reasons to start playing pickleball right now, so read on to find out how to play. A good place to start is Chapter 2, Playing by the Rules, which, in addition to the rules, tells you about the layout of the court, how to serve, and a few basics to get you going.

Chapter 2

Playing by the Rules

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Staying safe on the courts

Bullet Learning the layout of the court and basic rules

Bullet Understanding doubles, singles, and rally-style scoring

Bullet Making fair and accurate line calls

Bullet Diving deeper into the rule book

Have you ever arrived at a party and wished you’d read the invitation a bit more closely? First you realize it’s a potluck and you’ve brought nothing to share. Then you begin to see that it’s quite obviously not a costume party. Worst of all, you talked about the party earlier in the day with the birthday girl, and now everyone is hiding behind the couches, ready to yell, Surprise! Oopsy.

This chapter is like the fine print on the invitation. It tells you the things you need to know to be safe, understand the court and its markings, how to keep score, and a few other essentials. After reading this chapter, you can arrive at the courts calm, cool, and collected because you’ll know everything you need to start playing. Time to party!

Don’t wear out the pages on scoring by nervously reading them over and over again. Scoring takes a little bit of practice, and the best way to learn is by trying it. Don’t stress! We have full faith and belief in you that you will learn to keep score just fine. When you get on the courts and start playing, you’ll quickly get the hang of it. We typically count on the other players on the court to help us figure out the score. In fact, you’ll often hear it called out as a question rather than a statement. (We once saw a player declare, There’s a score out there somewhere and then serve the ball.) Close enough! Pickleball players are all here to help each other and enjoy playing the game together.

First Things First: Safe Pickleball Is No Accident!

In our totally unbiased opinion, pickleball is the most fun sport in the world. But nothing ruins the fun as quickly as an unexpected injury. The good news is that pickleball is considered a fairly safe sport. Plastic balls, lightweight paddles, and smaller courts make for a kinder, gentler way to play, for the most part. And although we don’t see players falling very often, the court surface can feel pretty darn hard if you do take a tumble.

Here are some safety tips you should know before stepping onto the court:

Protect your peepers. Pickleballs are made of hard plastic and fly at very fast speeds. Getting hit with a pickleball probably won’t result in more than a small bruise for most parts of your body, but your delicate eyeballs are another story. Please keep them covered at all times. Regular sunglasses or prescription glasses work just fine, or you can buy clear safety glasses at a sporting goods or hardware store. (You can find more information on protective eyewear in Chapter 3.)

Wear court shoes. Court shoes are built to provide lateral stability and movement. Running or walking shoes are designed for moving forward. There is a big difference! We get into more detail on different types of court shoes in Chapter 3.

Warm up properly. To avoid muscle pulls and cramping, always stretch before you play, and do your full warm-up routine. Chapter 10 goes into more detail on how to warm up properly and avoid injuries.

Never run backward. Not only is backpedaling a terribly inefficient way to move to the ball, it’s one of the leading causes of injuries in pickleball. If you do decide to chase down the ball, turn and run in the direction it’s heading (see Chapter 12 for more detailed instructions on lob retrieval). Or you can always just say Nice shot. (If a ball is sailing high over your head, yell YOU! before your partner does — now you’re off the hook!)

Don’t play on wet courts. When testing a court to see whether it’s dry, check the lines first — they are typically the slickest part of the court. Be aware of damp, shadowed areas.

Call the ball. If the ball is coming to the middle between you and your partner, be sure to communicate with each other. Yell out Mine! or Yours! Calling the ball prevents you and your partner from hitting each other while swinging simultaneously at the ball.

Alert others when a stray ball goes on their court. If you or someone on your court hits a ball that goes astray and is stealthily endangering a neighboring group of players who could step on it, please yell Ball On! repeatedly, until play stops. Failing to do so is not only dangerous but also a huge breach of pickleball etiquette that will earn you some wicked side eye.

Know where the first-aid kit and nearest AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) are located. Take a CPR/first-aid class and encourage other players to join you. Learn to use an AED machine, and have a plan for dealing with different types of emergency situations.

Stay hydrated and know your limits. No question about it: Pickleball is addictive. Even when you’re already exhausted, you may feel the urge for just one more game. This is usually one game too many! Drink plenty of water, and consider supplementing with electrolytes if you perspire a lot or are prone to cramping.

Looking at the Layout of the Court

The pickleball court is laid out the same for both singles and doubles. It’s a rectangle (ugh, who knew there’d be geometry in this book?) that measures 44 feet long by 20 feet wide. This is the same size as a doubles badminton court, or roughly one third the size of a tennis court. Along the outside boundaries of the court, you’ll find the sidelines on the long ends and the baselines on the shorter ends.

The court is divided (ugh, more math?) in the middle by a net, or as we like to call her, Annette. A real heartbreaker, Annette’s measurements are 36-34-36 — she’s 36 inches tall at the sidelines and 34 inches at the center. Although a pickleball net is actually 2 inches lower than a tennis net, the height relative to the size of the court can make Annette a lot like a bad ex — hard to get over!

On each half of the court is a 7-x-20-foot area directly in front of the net called the non-volley zone (NVZ), more commonly known as the kitchen. As the name non-volley zone implies, players aren’t allowed to hit a volley (a shot hit before the ball has bounced) while in this zone. We go into much more depth on these rules later in this chapter. Historians aren’t sure how the kitchen got its nickname, but one theory claims that the term was borrowed from shuffleboard.

The court between the kitchen and the baseline is divided lengthwise into two service boxes by the centerline. (Historians haven’t spent any time researching that one.) The line that divides the kitchen from the service boxes is known as the non-volley zone line, or the kitchen line.Figure 2-1 shows the names and locations of the lines and zones on the court.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 2-1: The names and locations of the lines and zones of the court.

Order on the Court: Learning the Basic Rules

As a general rule, you should learn the basic rules of a game before you attempt to play. An official pickleball rule book currently runs about 75 pages, but you don’t need to commit all that to memory. The rules summary in this section helps you get out on the court and play your first few games today. Pickleball is a very social sport, so even if you don’t know all the rules yet, there’s probably another player on the court (or three) who are willing to help you. They were all beginners once, too, so don’t be shy!

In this section, we assume that you’re playing doubles, which is by far the most popular format. Later in this chapter, we explain how singles scoring differs from doubles.

Serving things up

You can’t start playing a game of pickleball until somebody serves the ball. Here are the basic rules you need to know to get started serving:

You must serve diagonally (crosscourt) into the service box. Your serve must clear the kitchen and bounce in the service box that’s diagonal from you, on the opponent’s side of the court. If it lands on the sideline, baseline, or centerline, the serve is considered in. If it lands on the kitchen line, it’s a fault. Figure 2-2 shows the path of a serve into the correct service box.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 2-2: The path of a serve into the correct service box.

The ball must go over the net. If your serve goes into the net without going over, it’s a fault. If your serve glances off the top of the net but still lands in the service box, it’s good and must be played. If it touches the top of the net and lands out of bounds or in the kitchen, it’s a fault.

You must strike the ball below the level of your waist with a low-to-high motion. You must serve underhand in pickleball, contacting the ball below your waist with an upward swing path. In addition, no part of your paddle may be higher than your wrist. Chapter 7 goes into more detail on service-motion rules.

If serving off the bounce, you may not add force to the bounce. You can choose to hit the ball out of the air, before it bounces, by either tossing or dropping the ball with your non-paddle hand. Or you may choose to hit it off a bounce, but in this case you cannot apply any upward or downward force to the ball. This is called the drop serve, and you can find out more details about it in Chapter 7.

You must stand behind the baseline and between the imaginary extensions of the centerline and the sideline. At the moment you strike the ball, neither foot can be inside the court boundaries, and at least one foot must be touching the ground behind the baseline (both feet can’t be in the air). You can’t stand way off to the side when you serve; you must be standing in the area behind the service box on your side of the court. Figure 2-2, shown previously, shows where you must stand to legally serve.

You get only one service attempt. You get just one chance to hit your serve in. If your serve goes into the net or out of bounds, you lose your serve and do not get to try again.

The Two-Bounce Rule

After a player serves the ball, the receiver must let the serve bounce before they are allowed to hit it. (Otherwise, the world would be left wondering whether that serve was going to land in bounds.) When the receiver returns the ball to the serving team, that team must also let it bounce before they can hit. After those first two shots have been allowed to bounce, any player can legally volley, which means to hit the ball out of the air before it bounces.

The Two-Bounce Rule is one of the genius ideas that makes pickleball great. It prevents the serve and volley strategy commonly used in tennis, keeping players from blasting a huge serve and immediately running up to the net to volley the next ball. For this reason, in pickleball the serving team is not considered to be at an advantage at the start of each rally.

Tip If you have trouble at first remembering to observe the Two-Bounce Rule, just count the bounces in your head: One … two … game on! Another way to think about this rule is that the ball must bounce on each side of the court before players may volley. So after you’ve watched the ball bounce on your side of the court, either on the serve or return, you can forget worrying about counting those darn bounces.

Starting positions

The server is the only player required to stand in any particular place on the court when the point begins. (Actually, there is a rule stating that you must stand on your own team’s side of the net, but we can’t imagine why you wouldn’t choose to do so). However, the Two-Bounce Rule clearly influences where the other three players should stand at the start of the point. Figure 2-3 shows the typical positions of each player when one player is serving.

Here’s the breakdown for each player:

The server must stand behind the baseline. The rules state that the server must serve from behind the baseline and between the imaginary extensions of the centerline and sidelines.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 2-3: The typical positions of the players when starting a point.

The server’s partner should also stay behind or near the baseline. Again, the Two-Bounce Rule requires the serving team to let the return bounce before they can hit it. In case the return is hit deep (as we recommend in Chapter 7), both members of the serving team will want to stay back as far as possible so that they won’t have to backpedal to hit the ball.

The receiver stands behind the baseline. The Two-Bounce Rule requires the receiver to let the serve bounce before they can return the serve. The receiver should also stay well behind the baseline in order to more easily deal with a deep serve.

The receiver’s partner stands up at the kitchen line. Because the Two-Bounce Rule affects only the serving team and the receiver, the receiver’s partner doesn’t worry about the Two-Bounce Rule and instead focuses on being in the most offensive position at the kitchen line, ready to volley the next ball that comes to them. We go into strategy more in Chapter 11.

Tip If you’re not sure where you’re supposed to be standing, remember that all players should ideally stand behind the baseline at the beginning of the point, except for the person standing directly across from the server. Also remember that when it’s your partner’s turn to serve, they need you back there with them. It’s their big moment! Stay back and support your partner when they’re serving. Only the receiver’s partner should be up at the kitchen line.

At fault: Ways to lose the rally

A rally is over as soon as one of the players commits a fault, resulting in their team’s loss of that rally. In basic terms, a fault occurs when a player

Hits the ball into (or under) the net

Fails to return the ball before it has bounced twice on their side

Hits the ball and it lands out of bounds

Many other types of faults can cause you to lose a rally, and these authors have done them all! Don’t worry: Even losing points can be tons of fun — it’s still pickleball!

It’s also considered a fault if a player

Violates any of the serving rules

Violates the Two-Bounce Rule

Contacts the ball with anything other than the paddle or the hand that is holding the paddle

Serves or returns as the incorrect player, or from the incorrect side (see "Knowing the Score," later in this chapter)

Violates any of the kitchen rules (explained in the upcoming section "Non-volley zone: It’s hot in the kitchen!")

Touches the net, net posts, or the opponent’s side of the court. This rule applies to your paddle and clothing as well, which is why we’ve stopped playing in hoop skirts and parachute pants.

There are a few even less common ways to lose a rally, such as taking too long to return from a time-out in tournament play, but the faults in the preceding list are the main ones to worry about during recreational play.

Non-volley zone: It’s hot in the kitchen!

The non-volley zone (NVZ), a.k.a. the kitchen, is another genius idea that makes pickleball great. If players could just lean over the net and spike the ball directly into your face, that may impede your ability to enjoy this great pastime. The kitchen makes it so that players have to stay at least seven feet away from the net if they want to hit the ball out of the air (a shot known as a volley).

If you think of the kitchen as its technical name, the non-volley zone, it tells you exactly what it is — a zone where you cannot volley. To be more specific, you cannot have any contact with the ball before it has bounced while you’re in this zone. If anything about your volley starts, finishes, or takes place while you’re in the kitchen, it’s a fault. Note that the kitchen is a two-dimensional surface, not a three-dimensional space. In other words, it’s perfectly legal to lean in and hit the ball out of the air from the area above the kitchen, as long as you are not touching its surface. The kitchen line and bordering sidelines are considered part of the kitchen. The out-of-bounds area adjacent to the kitchen is not.

Tip If you see that a ball is going to bounce short in the kitchen and you can’t reach it without going in, by all means go! You don’t have to wait for the ball to bounce before you can go in — that’s a common misconception. After you have gone in and made your shot, try to get back out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. Otherwise, your opponent may flick the ball right at you, forcing you to illegally contact it before it has bounced.

Remember Because the kitchen is unique to pickleball and the rules are frequently misunderstood, many new players are petrified of being anywhere near the kitchen. We urge you to let go of this irrational fear because it will only hinder your development as a player. Remember: The kitchen is not hot lava! Not only are you allowed to go in there, you will absolutely need to go in there sometimes to retrieve the ball. The only similarity between the kitchen and your average lava field is that you don’t want to camp out in there like the player in Figure 2-4.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc./Photo Credit: Aniko Kiezel

FIGURE 2-4: Don't hang out in the kitchen!

Warning You may hear pickleballers advising each other to Stay out of the kitchen! Although it’s a cute turn of phrase, this advice is not entirely accurate. Instead of hanging signs in the kitchen that say Keep Out, we’d prefer more helpful signs that say, No Loitering.

So now you know there’s only one thing you can’t do in the kitchen: contact the ball before it bounces. That doesn’t sound so complicated, right? The confusing part for many players is understanding what qualifies as being in the kitchen, and in what situations it applies.

The rules define a kitchen violation (fault) as occurring when

You hit a volley while any part of your body is contacting the kitchen. Remember, the kitchen surface includes the kitchen line and adjoining sidelines. Even if just your pinky toe (the one that went wee wee wee all the way home) touches the very back of the kitchen line, it’s a fault.

You hit a volley and your momentum carries you into the kitchen. If you initially strike the ball outside the kitchen but the momentum from the shot makes you step inside it, it’s considered a fault. There is no time limit on this rule; that is, it doesn’t matter if your opponents have already made their next shot (or three), or your partner smashes the next ball for a gold-medal, match-ending winner. If you haven’t yet regained your balance from your earlier volley and you fall into the kitchen, it’s a fault. After you have reestablished your balance, it is no longer considered part of the same shot, and you can go into the kitchen as you please.

You hit a volley and touch the kitchen with your paddle. If you lose your balance after hitting a volley and fall forward, try to avoid using your paddle to steady yourself. If your paddle makes contact with the kitchen during or after your shot, it’s a fault.

You hit a volley and your hat, glasses, or other gear falls into the kitchen. If you hit a volley and your dentures fall into the kitchen, it’s a fault for a variety of reasons (and one that your fellow players are unlikely to ever forget).

You hit a volley and in the process knock your partner into the kitchen. By contacting your partner in the midst of your shot, you made them a part of that shot. Nothing that you touch during the act of volleying can come in contact with the kitchen until after you have reestablished yourself outside it.

After legally going into the kitchen, you hit a volley before reestablishing both feet outside the kitchen again. This one’s a little tricky to visualize, so imagine that you’ve stepped into the kitchen to retrieve a short, bouncing ball — knowing that you’re perfectly safe because the kitchen is not hot lava — and you are contacting the ball after it has bounced. You return the ball, but as you are in the process of hustling back out of the kitchen, your opponent hits the ball right back at you. Unless you have managed to touch both feet outside the kitchen again, you may not contact the ball out of the air. Figure 2-5 shows examples of legal and illegal volleying.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc./Photo Credit: Aniko Kiezel

FIGURE 2-5: A legal volleying example (left) and illegal volleying example (right).

Remember The kitchen is a flat surface defined by its boundary lines and does not include the air space above it or the out-of-bounds area next to it. It’s legal to volley while stepping or leaping over the corner of the kitchen, as long as your feet do not touch the in-bounds surface. This is called an Erne. (It’s actually pronounced like Ernie, and people may suspect you’re a rookie if you don’t pronounce it correctly.) If you want to show off, just tell them it’s named after Erne Perry. The Erne is an advanced move, so don’t worry if you can’t hit one just yet — you’ll at least win pickleball trivia night. We discuss the finer points of hitting the Erne (and his best friend, the Bert) in Chapter 14.

Tip Be honest when you break the kitchen rules. Kitchen violations in recreational play are typically called by the player who made the violation, or by their partner. The call usually sounds something like,