The Basic Rules of Pickleball
The Rules of the Kitchen (Non Volley Zone)
The No Volley Zone, commonly called “the Kitchen”, is the rectangular space next to the net spanning the entire width of the pickleball court. The Kitchen line is considered part of the No Volley Zone
A Volley is any shot struck out of the air without it bouncing first.
A Kitchen Violation is any shot hit as a volley while touching the No Volley Zone (including the lines), resulting in a loss of the rally. This includes the player’s momentum after the volley (for example- the player jumps to hit it out of air but lands in the Kitchen).
A Groundstroke is any shot struck after the ball bounces on the ground. Groundstrokes are allowed when standing in the Kitchen.
The Rules of Serving in Pickleball
The Baseline is the line defining the back of the court. Players must hit their serve standing behind the baseline.
When serving, the play must swing their paddle in an upward motion, meaning the paddle starts below the server’s wrist, and finishes above the server’s wrist.
A server can bounce or not bounce the ball before hitting their serve
The serve must be hit diagonally, clear the Kitchen and bounce in the opponent’s crosscourt side.
The server only has one chance to make the serve
The Double Bounce Rule in Pickleball
The first three shots to start a rally are the most important. At Rally, we like to remember “bounce, bounce, hit!”. Here’s how they should go:
Serve: the server hits the ball diagonally cross-court
Return (Bounce 1): the ball must bounce once prior to the player returning the ball (no volleying)
Serving Team’s Return (Bounce 2): The ball must bounce once on the serving team’s side prior to the player hitting a return (no volleying).
After the serving team has successfully returned the ball, volleys are legal by both teams.
Players Must Win by At Least Two points
The team with the lead must win by at least two points in order to take the W. Read more on scoring rules here.