Pickleball Rules

THE MATCH 

Scoring

  • A team shall score a point only when serving.
  • A player who is serving shall continue to do so until a fault is made by his or her team.
  • The game is played to 11 points; however, a team must win by 2 points.
  • Teams will switch sides after each game.
  • A winner is declared when the best 2 out of 3 games are won.

Determining the Serving Team: Players will volley the ball until a fault is made. Winner of the volley will have the option of serving first or allowing the opposing team to serve first.

Serving

  • Player in the RIGHT-HAND court serves diagonally across court to the opposing team in the opposite RIGHT-HAND court.  The ball must CLEAR the non-volley zone and land in the RIGHT-HAND serving court of the opponent. If the serve does not clear the non-volley zone, the serving team will have ONE chance to re-serve.
  • If the fault is made by the receiving team, a point will be awarded to the serving team.  When the serving team wins a point, its players switch courts on their side of the net and the same player will continue to serve. Players only switch sides on their side of the court after scoring.

Types of Faults

  • Hitting the ball out of bounds.
  • When the ball does not clear the net.
  • Stepping into the non-volley zone while playing the ball on a volley.
  • Volleying the ball before it has bounced on each side of the net.

Double Bounce Rule: Each team must play its FIRST shot off the bounce. The receiving team must let the serve bounce and the serving team must let the return volley bounce before playing the return.  After the 2 bounces have occurred, both teams may play the ball in the air or off the bounce.

Non-Volley Zone (pictured in image above)

  • The non-volley zone is the area of the court bounded by the two sidelines, the non-volley line, and the net. The non-volley line and the sidelines are included in the non-volley zone. THE NON-VOLLEY ZONE CANNOT BE ENTERED.
  • A fault will be declared if, in the act of volleying the ball, a player or anything the player is wearing touches the non-volley zone or touches the non-volley lines.