Pickleball

Pickleball is a paddle and ball sport with a perfect balance of court dimensions, rules and equipment to afford all skill levels and age groups, enjoyment and success on the court.

Played on a hard surface indoors or outdoors, the game is a combination of tactical shots, patience, and easy to learn strokes, which encourages and inclusive play environment with no need for modifications or adaptations to cater for gender, ability or age differences. 

Rule #1 The serve
Each rally begins with a serve. The player on the right hand side of the court, facing their opponents, starts the point and serves from behind the baseline diagonally to their opponent. A serve must be an underhand strike below the waist, clear the ‘kitchen’ (line and all) and land in the opposite player’s box.

The ‘two-bounce rule’: the returning team must let the ball bounce following a serve before it is returned, and then the serving team must also let the ball bounce before returning. After this, both teams may either volley the ball or play it off a bounce (ground stroke).

Rule #2 Each point continues until a fault
Following a serve, play continues until a player commits a fault, which can result from the following:
1. A serve does not clear the kitchen
2. A shot is hit out of bounds
3. A shot hits the net

Rule #3 A point can only be won on a serve
A point can only be won on a serve and a team continues to serve until they lose a point. Like tennis, after each point is won, the players with the serve switch sides.

In singles play, a player hands over serve when they commit two successive faults. In doubles, whenever a player on a team commits a fault, their partner gets to serve, and once the team commits two faults, the opposing team is handed serve.

Rule #4 Volleying in the ‘kitchen’ is not permitted
The 7ft zone on each side of the net is called the ‘kitchen’, which is a no-volley zone. A player cannot hit a ball from within ‘the kitchen’ without it bouncing, and is also not allowed to allow momentum carry them into the kitchen after a volley is struck. ‘Dink’ shots, or drop shots, that land in the ‘kitchen’ are allowed and are a good strategy.

Scoring
A pickleball score should be called after each point as three numbers: serving team score, receiving team score, serving team fault count.

Pickleball scoring format: