Pickleball is a game usually played by four people, and is a combination of table tennis, badminton and tennis. It started in Seattle in 1965. The basic strokes are the serve, forehand and backhand ground strokes. All played with a swing from the shoulder, finishing with a long arm in front to prevent injury at the elbow. The half volley, swinging volley and the punch volley. The dink, a soft silky shot reaching forward standing at the Non-Volley Line (NVL). Finally the lob and the overhead. The non-dominant arm should always be used for balance and better rotation into hitting forward into the ball. The paddle should always be held out in front, to be ready promptly, never dropped down in front or at the side of the body. The tip of the paddle should be tracking the movement of the ball at all times. If the ball continually goes into the net, check that the follow-through is high enough. If the ball is always going too high, check the angle of the paddle-face in relation to the net. (There is a new serve, dropped from an open hand, that can be hit after it bounces.) Rules: The Serve has to be underarm, from low to high, the ball hit below the waist and the paddle has to be below the wrist. No side arm motion, starting with the paddle down low near the back leg. Announce the score before each serve. The serve has to land in the rectangle on the diagonally-opposite side. After the serve, the ball has to bounce on both sides of the net before it can be volleyed (hit in the air). Any serve that hits the net and goes into the correct box has to be played— no more replaying a let serve. If the players on the same team disagree on the call, the ball is good. A ball touching any line is good, except on the serve the NVL is out. The player must not step or fall into Non-Volley Zone (NVZ) after hitting a volley. If the ball bounces in the NVZ, a player may go in to hit it. Keep communication with partner clear and simple. Always hit the return of serve high and deep to keep the receiver back. Scoring: You can only win a point when you are serving. The first server starts from the right side and the score is 0–0–2. The numbers are: your score --their score— and 1st or 2nd server. The first team to serve only gets one serve, from then on each team has 2 chances to serve. After the 2nd server loses the point, it is side out and the other team serves and the score is 0–0–1. If both teams have won one point each and it is the 2nd server’s turn, the score is 1–1–2. Play is to 11 points, win by 2 points.
BASIC STARTING POSITIONS
BASIC WINNING POSITIONS
Players 1 and 2 wait behind the service line until the ball bounces on their side and then move up to the line together.
Player 3 returns the ball and moves up smoothly to NVL to join their partner. The first team up to the net usually wins.