When I was young, being a 5 years old kid, I faced struggle, made mistakes on the court to understand the Pickleball game. My parents were experts in this game, so my father literally took a whiteboard and sat with us, explaining the important basics. So I would be using the same process plus advanced information that I have learned and experienced over the last two decades to teach the basics in this article.
This blog post will help you to shorten your learning curve covering basics from 360 angles with the context of game accessories required, Finding court, Rules of the game, Scoring and Etiquette.
https://getsetpickleball.com/volley/
1. Tools Required:
The basic things that you would require to start playing this game is to find a Court to play, have a Paddle and Ball (A wiffle ball)
Basics: Court, Paddle, Ball, clothing and shoes
a) Court :
Pickleball court is 44 ft x 20 ft dimension wise the same as Badminton court. Reason being the family who invented this sport played for the first time on a Badminton court in the backyard of their home.Read more : Fascinating History of pickleball.
The net in the centre is 36in. High at the ends and 34in. In the centre. The court on each side of the net has 2 partitions from centerline up to 15 ft.known as play area. The right side will be used to start serve in case of doubles. There is a region NVZ (Non Volley Zone) 7ft in the centre also termed as “Kitchen”.
- Where/how can you find a court?
There are two to three ways which you can use to locate the courts
- One of the best way is to join Social media groups:
i.e. Local facebook groups of the city where you are in,
- Or you can see in reditt and search history in it.
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Websites
like places2play, pickleheads, pickleball+, playtime scheduler etc…
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Google maps:
You can search in google maps the courts near you and the listed courts will show up.
The court could be outdoor or indoor.
b) Paddle :
Paddles could be categorised from beginners (having a flat hard surface) to Advanced (having a specific internal structure like honey comb and soft surface). The main takeaway is as you move to advance the paddle you get to have more “Control” and “Spin” over the ball after the hit.
c) Ball :
The ball used has two types of ball designs.
One designed for outdoors has more holes and the size of holes is smaller compared to indoor balls.
The one designed for indoors had less number of holes but the holes are larger in size compared to Outdoor.
d) Clothing and Shoes :
Playing on a court requires you to have free movements so it’s good to have clothing which is comfortable aiding you in the movements.
Shoes – There are a lot of Lateral movements and force exerted on shoes wearing out the soles so it’s better to select shoes from a brand which provides you warranty to replace the soles within 6 months if they wore out.
e) Equipment – Self practice
Drills are very important part of this sport if you want to improve. I would advise to learn and practice drills as much as possible. You will be able to access drilling tools at your local courts or you can have some of the self practicing tools like automatic ball throw machine or practice board.
2. Basic Rules of Pickleball
Two types of shots: you should be aware that this sport has two types of shots listed below:
Ground Strokes : Ground strokes are the shots played after ball bounces once on the ground.
Volley : Its a type of a shot where the player hits the ball when its in the air doesn’t allowing ball to bounce. As a beginner if you are unaware read the article “what is volley in pickleball?”
Serving rules
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Rule #1 :
Server should Serve diagonally from the Right side serving area of the court with feets stepped behind the serving lines.
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Rule #2 :
Server is required to call out the score loudly (else its automatic fault by default) then serve the ball making sure the ball is below the waist while hitting the paddle with a swing.
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Rule #3 :
You can either directly hit the ball once dropped from hand or allow the ball to fall from your hand to let it bounce from ground then hit it with the paddle. (do not add force to bounce it higher)
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Rule #4 :
Serve should be within the court area within or on the boundary lines diagonally in opponents court. However it should not end up in the opponent’s kitchen or on the kitchen line.
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Rule #5 :
One serve is allowed. If the serve touches the net falling the ball in the proper service area then the serve is retaken.
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Rule #6 :
As soon as the fault is created, the serve is switched to the partner who now serves from the left side.
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Rule #7 :
Singles :If your score is odd then you serve from the left side of the court and if your score is even then you serve from the right side of the court. Both players would switch the sides.
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Rule #8 :
Doubles : During the first fault from server side the serving team the serving team swaps the position the opponent team stays where they are.
Unfair advantage balance rules :
There are few rules created to balance the unfair advantage to a single team please take a note of them below:
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Serve Starting Team :
The first team to start the game only gets serve upto 1 fault. The next team gets serve upto two faults. Later both the teams will get the serves for 2 faults. This allows not to give unfair advantage to the first serving team.
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Double bounce rule :
When the game starts 1st team should serve the ball with a bounce to the 2nd team and 2nd team should return the ball and 1st team should allow the ball to bounce before they hit the shot. Then either of the teams are allowed to volley the ball directly. Without this rule the first serving team could come ahead near kitchen boundary and hit the ball without giving time to the 1st team to adjust into the court.
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Non volley zone (NVZ) Rules:
You are not allowed to volley while stepping into the kitchen nor your momentum should carry you stepping into kitchen after vollying the pickleball. In case if the ball has bounced into the kitchen then you are allowed to enter into the kitchen and hit the ball.
Without this rule the tall person can bounce the ball very high to their unfair advantage. NVZ rule helps to balance the distance.
3. Scoring
In traditional system only serving team can score. Vs Rally scoring any team can score. But generally Traditional scoring is used everywhere.
Scoring terminology
Singles : 2-1 means the server score is 2 and opponent score is 1
In Doubles if you hear the score like 2-1-1 that means the serving team score is 2, opponent team score is 1 and 1st server is serving.
- Winning rules – You win the game by 11 with a difference of 2.
- Fault: Fault occurs when
- you hit the ball outside of the court playing boundaries.
- Hit the ball on net.
- Allow ball to bounce twice in the court on your side
- Play the ball two times.
- Both the players on same team hit the ball
- Don’t return the ball over net
- Ball bounces twice on your side.
- Line calls – If the ball falls on boundary line it’s called IN. If you can see a gap between the boundary and the ball then it’s your fault. Please call the fault after the ball has bounced. Be sure to speak loudly as well as show the sign.
- Rally : A game continues to be played back and forth after the serve until a fault occurs; it’s called a Rally.
- Volleying : Volleying is hitting the ball directly into the air without allowing it to bounce on the ground.
4. Etiquettes
Pickleball is a fun sport and our intention should be on meeting people, having fun, have physical movements rather than focusing on winning through unfair means. Following are some of the Etiquettes I wish I knew before I started playing pickleball.
- Socialise and make friends : Introduce yourself with other players and its a good way to socialise and make new friends.
- Serve : Wait for the opponent to take proper position before calling out the score i.e. starting to serve.
If the opponent is serving then it’s good to roll the ball down the nets to send them the ball.
- Court Direction : Make sure the players in the court are facing North-South direction. If they are facing East-West direction then one of the players would face the sun directly in the morning or evening which could create Safety concerns.
- Line calls :Wherever you have doubt whether the ball is on line or outside the line, call it in.
- Communication : It’s good to communicate with your team partner but its not something right to misbehave the opponent team while playing eg. you are going to miss this shot, making sounds like “aha” when opponent team is playing
- Patience : As you become an expert Have patience while playing with new players/beginners. Sometimes the ball goes to another court so instead of saying BALL ON while they are playing it’s better to have patience until they finish playing the game. Its advised to call “BALL ON” when the ball is going to hit someone at the ankle or at the body
- Coaching : Please do not give unsolicited advise unless someone asks you for it. It would potentially not be welcomed and you would waste your time in teaching, later they are not applying in their game.
- Focus on self : Do not get upset when your partner misses a hit or creates the fault. Try to focus on yourself. Appreciate your partner
- Cheering : It’s good to cheer when you hit a good shot rather than opponents playing out of line shots and you cheer.
- Unintentional shot : If you hit any unintentional shot which hit someone in the court or you hit at the nets it’s good to apologise as a courtesy.
- Tap paddles : last but not the least do not forget to Tap paddle to say thank you at the end of game.Also make sure you don’t hit hard so that it damages paddles.
- Open play : assume positive intention.
Conclusion :
To recap things starting with the equipments that you would require to find a court near you with net, Paddles, Ball, Comfortable Clothing and Shoes.
Rules to be kept in mind:
No Volleying into the kitchen
Double bounce rule : Each team must allow to bounce the ball once before they could start volleying.
Apart from above general rules I would like to recommend newbies to improve their skills of
- Foot work,
- Taking time to observe and
- Volleys
Understanding and taking control amd improving on above skills will double your ability in an hour or two.
Having equipped with all the basics now Lets start the game 0-0-Start!
Frequenty Asked Questions
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How many people play pickleball?
In singles match there are 2 people playing with each other and in doubles match 4 people play each team comprised of two people.
Two people could also play skinny singles which is played on half sized court to improve their skills and game.
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What is the average age of pickleball players ?
APP Reported the average age of pickleball players si 34.8 years which is dropping as more and more young players join the squad.
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Is it a fault if the ball touches the line?
No. If the ball is on the line it will be considered as point.
However, for serving the ball should not touch the kitchen line.
Source url : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgThqNRly7Y&t=2s
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