Pickleball

Fall/Winter Pickleball Trial

October 1 through February 28, 2023

Who and How?

Members and their guests. Waitlisted members may also use the pickleball courts, for the same fees as for tennis.
Guests must pay $15 fee. There must be a maximum 1:1 member to guest ratio on a court. Guests may play (either tennis or pickleball) a maximum of six times per calendar year. No guests for Sunday Open Play.
Players sign up on Gametime and check in at front desk.
Each member may have one active pickleball reservation at a time and be named on one reserved court per day.
Pickleball reservations or court namings are in addition to allowable tennis reservations and court namings. A member may have one active reservation for each sport, and be named on one court of each sport per day.
Club-owned pickleball nets are available on Court 18 and must be positioned and stowed by the pickleball players within their timeslot.
Players may bring their own paddles and balls.
A limited number of paddles and balls are provided in the storage bin outside Court 18. These are first come, first serve, and should be stowed in the box at the end of each session.
Players should report any issues with courts or club equipment to the front desk.
Connect with other players by joining the Central Park Pickleball WhatsApp group. Email [email protected] to join.

When and Where?

Pickleball may be played on Court 18 only. Sunday Open Play hours are 2:30 – 5:30 PM. Court 18 may be reserved for either tennis or pickleball during all other times, on a first come, first served basis.

By default, all pickleball courts and times will be blocked as unavailable on the Gametime Pickleball tab. If a player wants to reserve Ct 18A-D for pickleball, the player should first check the Pickleball tab for that day and time to determine if it has already been opened for pickleball. If it has, they can reserve their own pickleball court in Gametime. If it hasn’t, the member should call the Front Desk. Staff will mark Ct 18 unavailable for tennis on the Gametime Tennis tab, will sign up the caller for one of the pickleball courts, and mark the remaining pickleball courts as available for self-reservation on that day and time.

	Day	Hours	Sign Up
Open: Round-robin play with all other attendees	Sunday	2:30-5:30 PM	Add your name to “Sunday Open Pickleball” activity under Gametime “Classes & Events” tab.
Reserved: Organize your own group of 2-6 players.	Any, except Sun at 2:30-5:30pm	Any, except Sun at 2:30-5:30pm	Use Gametime to reserve a slot, just as you would for tennis. If Court 18 is not already reserved for tennis, call the front desk to have them “open” Court 18 for pickleball at your desired timeslot.

What are the rules of Pickleball?

Play in teams of 1 (singles) or 2 (doubles).
First team to 11 points (by at least a 2 point margin) wins.
Use tennis methods to determine side of court and first serve.
Serving
- Player currently positioned on ‘deuce’ side of court serves first for their team.
- Server continues to serve as long as they win the point.
- After winning a point, the server and teammate swap ‘ad’ and ‘deuce’ positioning.
- When server loses a rally, their partner gets to serve from partner’s current side (no ad/deuce swap). (Exception: At game start, only one player of first-serving team gets to serve.)
- Once both players on a team have lost a rally on their serve, the serve goes to the other team . (Exception: At game start, serve goes to other team after one server loses their serve.)
- A serve must have its first bounce in the diagonally-opposite service box, which includes the centerline, diagonal half of the baseline, and the sideline from baseline to No Volley Line. Serves hitting the net but landing in the service box are good and must be played.
- The serve must be allowed to bounce. Additionally, the return of serve must be allowed to bounce. Failure to allow these two bounces (the “double bounce” rule) loses the rally for the team that didn’t permit the ball to bounce.
Play after the serve
- After serve and first return, players may volley or hit on one bounce. If they volley, they must not touch the ‘kitchen’ (the area between (and including) the No Volley Line, the sidelines, and the net before, during, and after hitting the ball.
- After entering the No Volley Zone to hit a ball that bounces, the player must re-establish positioning outside the No Volley Zone prior to volleying a subsequent ball.
Scoring
- Only the serving team can score a point
- Scores are called out prior to each serve
  - “Server’s Score, Opponent’s Score, Which Server? (Always 1 or 2)”