The object of thegame is to be the first player or teamto have at least 11 points and you mustwin by 2 points. Pickleball isplayed on a badminton sized court 20feet by 44 feet and the net is 36 incheshigh. The courtnearest the net each side has a 7-footnon-volley zone called the kitchenbeyond the kitchen the rest of the courtis divided into two equal sectionscalled the right and left service areas.

Each player uses one pickleball paddleand the game is played with oneregulation pickleball ball. Take notethat the ball used will be different forindoor play than for outdoor. The ball first servesmust be made diagonally starting behindthe right-hand service area andalternating each serve. The server mustkeep both feet behind the back line whenserving.

To serve, call out the score thenyou must drop the ball with one hand andhit it with the paddle with an underhand swing below your waist. You can also serve by bounce the ball, but you must not toss it in the air or force it down, it must be freely dropped from your hand.

The balls first bounce must be in the diagonal opposite service area on the opponent's side of the court.Theserve may not land in the opponent'skitchen or the kitchens line. If it does,it is a fault. Only one server tempt isallowed. At the start of each new gamethe first serving team is allowed onlyone fault before giving up the serve tothe opponents. After that both members ofeach team will serve and fault beforethe ball is turned over to the opposing team.

There are other rules that come into play. A pickleball coach in Coeur d’Alene can go into more details here.

When the receiving team wins theserve the player in the right-hand courtwill always start with the serve.Each time the ball enters your side of thecourt your side is allowed one bounceand one hit to get the ball back overthe net to the opponent's side

There is a doublebounce rule that requires both teams tolet the ball bounce once on their sidebefore they can hit it.A volley means tohit the ball while it is in the air without letting it bounce first. Afterthe first bounce on your side, you mayvolley anywhere on the court except thekitchen. You are not allowed to step intothe kitchen even after a follow-throughor it is a fault. The only exception isif the ball first bounces in the kitchen then you can enter the kitchen and hitit. You may never volley in the kitchen.

Ateam scores one point when it is theirserve and their opponent faults.After afault the server switches sides

Tocall out the score when serving in a 1verses1simply say the number of points you have followed by the number of your opponentfor example “five two”. To call out the score in 2 verses2, you must add a number to the back of the score and say a total of three numbers. The last number is eithera 1 or a 2 to indicate if you are thefirst server or the second server for your team.

The first team toreach 11 points winsbut you must win by 2.

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