WHAT IS PICKLEBALL?

The pickleball is a sport with implements, specifically, a shovel sport that combines technical elements of tennis, badminton, ping pong and paddle. Its great success and its growing popularity is that it is easy to learn, fast-paced and very fun to play due to the long rallies that occur during the course of a match. Also, anyone with experience in any racket sports will get an immediate transfer of their skills to the pickelball.

The pickleball is almost always played in doubles, although singles can also be played. It does not understand ages or sexes, being practiced in the United States mostly by people over 60 years. Currently, more and more fans are playing in the United States, Canada, India and some European countries, among which Spain stands out.

A LITTLE HISTORY

The pickleball was created in the United States during the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, in the State of Washington. It was developed by US Congressman Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, Jordan Steranka and Barney McCallum. His intention in creating the pickleball was to design a new sport that was fun, challenging and that everyone could play.

So, the pickleball started using the badminton court that Joel Pritchard had in his backyard. For the sports equipment they created wooden shovels that were slightly larger than the ping-pong ones and chose to use a perforated plastic ball.

The founders created the rules that depend largely on badminton and took into account the original purpose, which was to offer a game for the whole family to practice. At first they put the net at the height of the badminton (150cm) and played to fly the ball over the net. As the game progressed, players discovered that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and reduced the net to a height of 91.5 cm. As they continued to develop the standards, they were shaping what are now the Official Pickleball Rules.

It is said that the origin of the name of this sport may be because the Pritchard had a Cocker Spaniel called Pickles who was interested in this new game. Every time a ball ran into his path, he picked it up and ran. Pickle believed it was his ball ("Pickle's ball") and that is how the game took its name.

TRACKS AND EQUIPMENT

The measures of the track are very similar to that of badminton, and the net very similar to that used in tennis and paddle tennis.

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It is played with a special perforated ball, very similar to that of unihockey or floorball.

Secondly, you will need a pickleball paddle. The paddles are usually made of wood or carbon fiber and are larger than a ping pong but smaller than a tennis racquet. Generally, you can play pickleball with any paddles, but for a tournament, your paddle has to be approved by the USA Pickleball Association. USAPA has some rules for choosing a paddle, if your paddle doesn't meet those rules then your one will be an illegal pickleball paddle.

HOW IS IT PLAYED?

As we have said before, the pickleball is a racket / shovel sport that is played using a special perforated ball –which favors long rallies due to having holes, it stops in the air, with a network similar to that of tennis / paddle and on a track of dimensions equivalent to those of a badminton court. The rules are the usual ones in racket sports but with their peculiarities that we will see next, but not before making a small pause to explain the serve and their curiosities.

To start any point, the serve is used. To do this, the ball is removed from below, that is, moving the paddle below the waist in an upward motion (hit below the waist), without the ball bouncing on the court. All aspects related to the serve are common to the racket sports of which the pickleball drinks, and are the following:

The service is taken to the diagonally opposite service square, without stepping on the baseline and with at least one foot on the ground at the moment of impact of the ball.

The player's partner on serve may be located anywhere, on or off the track.

There is only one attempt to serve, but there may be infinite "lets" if you touch the net and enter the corresponding service box, or touch the player of the opposite partner or any object they carry.

The sequence of serves in singles is the same as in badminton: it is taken from the right side when my marker is even, and from the left side when it is odd.

In doubles, it has a very special rule: Each team member serves until losing the serve. That is to say, who first takes a player out of the pair making the usual changes in badminton if the team wins the point and when he loses, instead of moving on to take out the opposing team, his teammate will do so from the side where he is at that moment. . When the partner loses, it is when the serve will pass to the rival team, and so on.

Only the points obtained to the serve are added. That is, it is played as in volleyball in the past, with serve recovery. This favors the duration of the matches.

Games are usually played at the best of 3 games of 11 points each, with a difference of 2. You can also play 15 and 21 points.

It changes sides at the end of each game, and if there is a third game, when a team / player reaches 6 points (in games at 11); 8 points (in 15 games); and 11 points (in matches of 21).

UNIQUE RULES

The Non-Volley Zone

As the name implies, in this area you can not fly (make a hit without a boat), which adds more duration to the points due to the inability to finish off from so close to the net. Balls have previously bounced, if they can be hit. Nor can it be flown if the Non-Volley line is being stepped on with your foot

The Double Bounce Rule

The double bounce rule is very curious and avoids attacking a serve to win the volley directly, which favors, once again, the longer duration of the rallies.

We will always have to drop the ball after the throw-in to return it to the other track. That is to say, the team that receives the service must let the ball bounce to return it to the opposite field; and the punching team has to let the rest bounce to follow the point. From that moment, it will be played normally.

I hope that with this it has become a little clearer WHAT it is and HOW PICKLEBALL is played and do not be afraid, encourage us to try one day. I've already done it, and it can be very intense and fun.