Pickleball on Court 18 is suspended until completion of the outdoor court project Please look for communication on upcoming pickleball socials!

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)”

Other Links   Central Park Tennis Club Pickleball Policy Pickleball’s Official Rules: https://usapickleball.org/docs/ifp/USA-Pickleball-Rulebook.pdf Equipment: Pickleball Central: https://pickleballcentral.com/ Total Pickleball: https://www.totalpickleball.com/ Tennis Express: https://tennisexpress.com/ …and many other sites.

The Adhoc Pickleball Committee will update these documents as new information becomes available.    

• Pickleball Q & A - Updated 02/25/2022
• Pickleball Post Survey Q & A: April Edition
• Pickleball Survey Results: April 2022
• Summer Pickleball Trial FAQ
• September Pickleball Survey Results
• Summer Pickleball Trial Summary and Proposal for Fall/Winter

Please email any questions you have to [email protected]