Serving Rules:
* The serve must be made with an underhand stroke so that contact with the ball is made at or below waist level.
* The server must keep both feet behind the baseline during the serve with at least one foot on the court surface or ground at the time the ball is struck.
* The serve must be made without bouncing the ball off the court before hitting it.
* The serve must be made to the crosscourt (diagonally opposite court) service court.
* The service must clear the net and the non-volley line and land into the opponent’s service court. Serves may land on any service court line, except the non-volley zone lines.
* Double Bounce Rule: The serve and the service return MUST be allowed to bounce before striking the ball. After allowing these two bounces, volleys are allowed.
Singles (two players):
* At the start of each game the server begins the serve on the right side and alternates from right to left to right, etc., as long as the server holds serve.
* The server must serve to the court diagonally opposite of him/her.
Doubles (four players):
* The service always starts in the right-hand court and alternates from right to left to right, etc., as long as server holds serve.
* The server must serve to the court diagonally opposite of him/her.
* The team serving the initial serve of each game is allowed only one fault before passing service to the opposing team. After that, each team member must serve and fault before passing service to the opposing team.
* The serving team will rotate positions after scoring a point. After the first server faults, the second serve is performed from whatever side the second server is playing. The service will continue to rotate positions as long as the server continues to win points.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
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Grant,
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the serve, the official rules from Pickleball Canada state that both feet must be outside the court and at least one foot must be on the ground. This is how they word it: "4.B. Server Position. The server must keep both feet behind the baseline during the serve with at least one foot on the court surface or ground at the time the ball is struck. The serve must be made while the server’s feet are within the confines of the serving area. These confines lie behind the serving court baseline and on or between the imaginary lines extended from the court centerline and each sideline."
Therefore if you served with one foot inside the service court baseline it would be a fault.
Dave Shepherd
Thanks Dave,
ReplyDeleteI've changed my post to reflect that oversight. Thanks...Grant
Grant,
ReplyDeleteThe serve must be made below waist level, not at waist level. The paddle head should be below the wrist when it strikes the ball (Coach Mo showed paddle head not face up above the wrist to strike the ball down), See official rules: http://usapa.org/officialrules/pbrules.pdf
4.A. Serve Motion. The serve must be made with an underhand stroke so that contact with the ball is made below waist level.
4.A.1. Underhand Defined. The arm must be moving in an upward arc and the paddle head shall be below the wrist when it strikes the ball.
I have also seen Coach Mo talking about the same thing in one of his video.
Shirley