Basic Rules of Pickleball
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The Lines: The baseline is the back of the court. Any balls bouncing past this line are considered out. When serving, you must stand behind this line. Sidelines and the baseline should be painted so that the court dimension falls at the outside of the line. A ball is good if the center of the ball falls on the line. On the serve, a ball hitting the non-volley zone line is considered a fault.
The Non-Volley Zone: A line seven feet from the net delineates the non- volley zone. You are not allowed to hit the ball without letting it bounce first if your foot is on or between this line and the net, or if you stumble into this zone after hitting the ball. You may not serve the ball into the non-volley zone.
Scoring and Winning: A team gets a point when they win a rally that they served. When a point is won, the players of the scoring team switch sides. The first team to score 11 points wins (must win by two points).
The Serve: The player on the right always serves first. The ball must contact the paddle below the waist using an underhand motion and must land in the diagonally opposite court, beyond the non-volley line. The server must hit the ball without bouncing it first. Both players on a team will serve before the service passes to the other team. To keep the first service of a game fair, only the first player serves during the first service of the game.
Keeping Track of Scoring: Because players switch sides with each point, a simple scoring system was devised to keep track of who is serving. Before each serve, the server calls out his team’s score, the other team’s score, and then whether he is the first or second server for his team. For example, if his team has 5 points, the other team has 3, and his partner has already served and lost the point, he would call out, “5, 3, Server 2.”
The Return: The receiving team must let the ball bounce before returning the serve. Also, the serving team MUST let the returned ball bounce once more before hitting it back. This means that there will be two bounces during the first two hits of the rally (known as the double-bounce rule).
Singles Play: The server serves from the right side of the court when his or her score is even and from the left side when the his or her score is odd.