Pickleball is a paddle game played on a court size of 20’ x 44’ and one of the origins of pickleball is “Pickle boat” meaning a mix of different teams. As such pickleball is a mix of different games but has several unique and own rules that aren’t originated from any game. Before we get into the rules of the game, you need to know some important terms that are used in the game or have a basic overview to get started.
Basic Overview Of Pickleball
As mentioned before, pickleball is played on a playground of 20 x 44 size, and at the start of each game, the ball is served diagonally starting from the right-hand square. Furthermore, only those points are from the serving side, and if the receiving side scores they just get the right to serve. Players should wait and only play the ball on serve after one bounce to allow volleys. You Can also check the Best Pickleball Paddles for Spin.
Seven feet long area is present on each side of the net that is known as the non-volley zone and both teams try to get there and whoever gets there first has a lot of advantage over another side. It can be played as singles and doubles and the first team to score eleven points with two points lead wins the game. To prevent spiking there is a non-volley line and the server serves continuously until he/she faults that result in other team serving.
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Pickleball Serve
In pickleball, the game starts from the right-hand square, and servers are made diagonally. It is important for serves to clear the non-volley zone and land in the diagonal square if not it is considered a fault. A server should keep both feet behind the backline and serve from there. Furthermore, there are many ways to serve but it is important to keep the paddle below the waist while serving no matter what style of service you are playing.
At the start of the game, the 1st team serving is allowed 1 fault before giving the ball to an opponent and after that, after each fault, the ball is given off. Whenever players will serve, they will serve from the right-hand square side even when receiving teams win the right to serve. You Can also check the Best Pickleball Paddles for Beginners.
Check This Awesome Video To Improve Your Serving Techniques.
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Volleys
Volley means to hit the ball without letting it bounce and that can be only done when the players’ feet are behind the non-volley line. However, if the player steps on the non-volley line or volley field while trying to hit the ball without letting it bounce it counts as a fault. You can only hit the volleys while you are out of the non-volley area including the line. You Can also check the Best Pickleball Shoes.
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Scoring
Scoring in pickleball is almost as same as badminton and other games. Points scored by the serving team are counted only and in case of fault, the receiving team gets to serve and so on. Normal games are played to 11 points and onward 2 points result in a win while tournament games are either 15 or 21 with onward 2 points resulting in a win.
In case of an even score, the play would be started from the right-side court while serving. When the points of the serving team are odd then the server/receiver would be in the left-side court. You Can also check the Best Pickleball Paddle for Control.
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Two-Bounce Rule
Extending rallies is the main purpose of the two-bounce rule. When the ball is served the receiving team can’t play unless they let it bounce one and the same goes for the serving side, after receiving side plays their first shot the serving side must let it bounce once too; that is why it is called the two-bounce rule. After the ball has been bounced once on each side of the court, both teams may hit the ball before it bounces(volley the ball) or hit after it bounces once(ground stroke). This rule is there so that there is no advantage to the serving side as they have more room to reach the non-volley line.
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Line Calls
If the ball is anywhere except the non-volley line within the court, it is considered “in” and a service that is on the non-volley line or in the non-volley zone is a fault or short. So, while the serving ball should not be in a non-volley line or on it other than that the ball can touch any line within the court to be considered “in”.
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Faults
A fault is any action enlisted by the rules of the game that stops the game and if the fault is done by the serving side, receiving side gets to serve and if the receiving side commits fault then the serving side gets the point. Too many faults in one game can result in instant loss and sometimes frequent faults can cause whole team disqualifications in tournaments.
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Determining Serving Team
A player can use any fair method to determine who will serve first and mostly in professional games, toss is the method to decide that. After that only serving team points are counted and if the receiving team scores a point they get the right to serve and vice versa.
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Double Play
In double plays, there are two players on each team and there is a total of four parts of the court while each team gets two parts. The player from team one serves diagonally and the team two-player receives who is present at diagonal. For better understanding, odd serve/receive odd while even serves/receive even. If player one serves, player three will receive, and if player two serves, player four will receive and vice versa.
Conclusion – How To Play Pickleball:-
All the above covers almost 90% of the game rules and if you know these things you can easily get a grasp of gameplay. For further details, you can tend to tournament rules that are presented by officials. Other than that, our summary covers all the rules and things that are a must for playing pickleball. You can learn more after playing pickleball as you gain experience and get better at the game. You Can also check the Pickleball Kitchen Rules.
