Pickleball is a sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and pingpong and is played both indoors and outdoors with a paddle and plastic ball with holes.
History: Pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. Three dads invented the game for their bored children and named the sport after their dog.
Court: The game is played on a court that is 44 feet long and 20 feet wide. There is a 7-foot nonvolley zone, called the kitchen, on either side of the 36-inch-high net.
Andrea Stetson
Morgan Brown, 13, practices pickleball at Veterans Community Park in Naples. Morgan plays in tournaments, takes lessons and practices after school.
HOW TO PLAY
• Pickleball can be played as either singles or doubles, though doubles are much more popular.
• Serve must be underhand and the ball must land diagonally crosscourt in the area between the non-volley zone and the baseline.
• Points are only scored by the serving team.
• Games are normally played to 11 points, win by 2.
• If a point is scored, the server switches sides and serves from that side.
• When the first server loses the serve, the partner then serves. (The first serving side of the game has only the first server and when the point is lost the serve goes to the other side.)
• The second server continues serving until their team loses the point and then the serve goes to the opposing team.
• Once the service goes to the opposing team (at side out), the first serve is from the righthand court and both players on that team can serve and score points until their team commits two faults.
• When the ball is served, the receiving team must let it bounce before returning, and then the serving team must let it bounce before returning, thus two bounces.
• After the ball has bounced once in each team’s court, both teams may either volley the ball (hit the ball before it bounces) or play it off a bounce (groundstroke).
• The two-bounce rule eliminates the serve and volley advantage and extends rallies.
• The non-volley zone is the court area within 7 feet on both sides of the net where volleying is prohibited. This rule prevents players from executing smashes from a position within the zone.
• A dink is a soft shot on a bounce. An effective dink arcs downward as it crosses the net creating a more difficult shot to return.
• An overhead smash is a hard, overhand shot directed downward into the opponent’s court, usually as a return of an opponent’s lob, high return or high bounce.
• A lofted shot sends the ball high overhead and deep.
• The drop is a soft shot hit off a bounce from deep in the court, intended to land in the opponent’s kitchen preferably close to the net.
• Groundstrokes are typically the most powerful and most accurate shot, therefore, the most used from at or near the baseline.
• Volleys are a ball hit in the air before it bounces onto the court.
• If you lose 11-0 you have been pickled.
SOURCE: USA Pickleball