THE COURT

• A pickleball court is less than one third of a tennis court.
• The net height is 36 inches at the ends and 34 inches in the middle.
• The court is striped similar to a tennis court with right and left service courts.
• The 7-foot non-volley zone in front of the net is referred to as the “kitchen.”
• Some tennis courts have painted pickleball lines.

GAME PLAY & RULES

Pickleball is a game to eleven points, win by two points.

• The serve must be hit underhand and bounce into the opposite diagonal court.
• The return of serve must bounce before the ball can be hit by the receiving team.
• After the first two hits, the ball can be hit in the air or after the ball bounces once.
• The goal is to rally the ball back and forth until a team mishits the ball.
• A point is scored only with the serving team.

Mishits include:

• Hitting the ball out of bounds.
• Hitting the ball into the net.
• Hitting the ball before it bounces while standing in the non-volley zone.

The Non-Volley Zone (“The Kitchen”):

• The non-volley zone is the 7-foot zone on both sides of the net.
• You cannot volley the ball in the air while standing inside the non-volley zone.
• You can only hit the ball when standing inside the non-volley zone AFTER the ball has bounced.

Serving:

• The team that serves first to start a game, only one player serves (“zero-zero-start”).
• Afterwards, both players on each team serve.

Scoring:

• You call the score in the following order: server’s score, receiver’s score, then the

server number.

• For example, if the score of the serving team is 3 and the score of the receiving team

is 6, and the second server on the side is serving, the score is 3-6-2.