Before playing a game, it is important to know the rules of that particular game properly, and thoroughly. Knowing the rules would help you from being embarrassed on the court.

Pickleball is one of the fastest growing racket sports in the United States and neighboring country. Although rules of some games are pretty hard to understand, rules of pickleball are fun and easy to adapt. Besides, pickleball is less strenuous meaning that you need to put less effort while playing compared to other racket sports. For that reason, elderly persons are more likely to play this game.

The updated rules of Pickleball – Pickleball Infographic

Pickleball is a unique combination of tennis and ping-pong. Hence, pickleball rules are closely resemble to tennis and ping-pong. For your better understanding we create an infographic that would be able to explain pretty much everything. The infographic is self-explaining. If you want to get the full article in text form, you will find it just below the infographic. 

Let’s enjoy the visual. 

Pickleball court:

In order to understand the rules of pickleball thoroughly, you must have an idea about court design.

Pickleball is played on a rectangular, 44 foot by 20 foot court. The court is divided into two sides by a low net. There are two sidelines, two baselines, a center line on each side, as well as two non-volley lines which create two non-volley zones that are called kitchen. The center line divides each side into two service courts, the left service court and the right service court.

Serving:

Every pickleball games start with serving which is to be made diagonally. Serves should always be made from the Right-hand service court. The service must be made underhand using a pickleball paddle, which is larger than ping-pong paddle and smaller than tennis racquet, below waist level. The ball should be hit in the air before being bounced on the ground, targeting the diagonally located court.

When serving server must be kept both feet behind the base line. The service must clear the non-volley zone and the ball needs to be landed on the diagonally located court of the opposing side.

The receiving side must let the ball bounce once before returning the ball and sever also has to let the ball bounce once. Sever will be continuing serving until a fault occurs. 

After committing a fault, serves will be taken over to opposing side who will be continuing serving following the above rules.

While playing double, the 1^st serving team is allowed only one fault before handed over the ball to the opponents. After that, both members of each team will serve and fault before the ball turned over to the rival team.

Volleys:

In pickleball, volley means hitting the ball in the air without letting it bounce. If a player volleys while standing onto non-volley zone, it will be considered as a fault.

Double-bounce rules:

The double-bounce rule is an important rule in pickleball. It says, the ball must bounce once on the each side before either team may start volleying the ball in the air. After these two bounce has been occurred, both team are allowed either be volleyed or play off of the shot.

Fault:

The following situations would be consider as fault. When the ball:

1. fails to clear the net
2. falls into outside the court
3. is volleyed from the non-volley zone
4. is volleyed before fulfilling double bounce rules
5. touches any part of the non-volley zone while serving (line also included)

Scoring:

A team can score a point only when serving. When the receiving team commits a fault, serving team gain a point. After that, server will continue the service, altering the side after scoring a point, until he or she commits a fault. In single play, If the server make a fault, service will be taken over by the opposing team. While playing double, both member of a team will serve and fault; then the service carried over to the receiving team. The team that will score 11 points first and lead by 2 points from the opposing team will be declared as winner.

Well, this is a brief overview of pickleball rules. Knowing this much you can set off playing pickleball. However, you can learn about detail rules from the official website, if you are interested. Finally, pickleball is a fun and entertaining games, and have potential to make your leisure time awesome. Low space requirement, easy rules, less equipment requirement, and most importantly less strenuous are the main catalyst of its growing popularity. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s start playing.