A Beginner’s Guide to Pickleball

In early 2018, my husband and I stayed at a small inn by the beach in Costa Rica with two of the very few tennis courts in the area. One night, while we were lounging beneath the monkeys with fruit smoothies, a group of a dozen or so Michiganders descended on the courts, split them in half, and started playing a sport I’d never seen.

After chatting, we learned they were on a pickleball retreat (with a pickleball pro!) at a local resort and traveled to our inn’s courts for a change of scenery. A spark of memory popped up for my husband, having played the sport in middle school gym class — but otherwise we chalked it up to a weird niche group we’d stumbled upon in the tropical jungle.

Fast forward five years and it’s impossible to avoid some mention of pickleball. Many of the tennis courts in the community my grandmother lived in down in Florida have been converted into pickleball courts. My sister-in-law is an avid player, negotiating with her husband on which court they’ll visit on any given day. In Seattle, where I live, several pickleball-only courts have been built in our local parks, while others have taken over former tennis courts.

What is pickleball?

So what the heck is pickleball and where did it come from out of seemingly thin (well, for me, humid Costa-Rican) air? Pickleball is a kind of mini-tennis, or giant ping pong, that was developed on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from my home in Seattle. It was developed when a Washington State congressman, trying to keep his family entertained, started playing with ping pong paddles and a wiffle ball on their backyard badminton court, lowering the net to 36 inches. They found the sport was easy to learn and universal — something the whole family could play together — and a new sport was born.

By the late ‘80s, pickleball had expanded from Washington via the United States Amateaur Pickelball Association (USAPA) and the paddles improved to a fiberglass/nomex honeycomb paddle designed by a Boeing industrial engineer using commercial airline flooring material. By 1990, it had reached all 50 states, picking up steam around 2015 when the USAPA surpassed 10,000 members for the first time. From there, the trajectory grew as the USAPA began organizing the National Championships, with the now renamed organization, USA Pickleball, reaching 50,000 members in 2021. As of mid-January 2022, pickleball is now even available on Strava!

According to the New York Times, pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America. The rapid growth of pickleball can be attributed to the low-cost of entry and the ease of getting involved. The slow speed of the wiffle ball makes it slower than other sports and easy for first-timers to pick up.  

Pickleball rules

The first step is to learn the rules. While pickleball can be played as singles (my husband and I enjoy playing with just the two of us!) it’s most commonly played as doubles. The court looks like this:

The court: A team plays with their partner on one side of the net, while their opponents play opposite.  The small area near the net is called the “kitchen.” Service (the player serving the ball) will start in the Right Service Area of the northwest side of the court (because Bainbridge Island is in the PNW).

The first serve: Serves must be underhand and have to land in the opposite corner of the court (right service area to right service area, left service area to left service area).  They can’t land in the kitchen (or outside the lines of the court).

Returning the serve: On the serve and the first return, the ball must bounce once. This is called the “two-bounce” rule. After that, you can “volley” or hit the ball without bouncing. When volleying, you can play up closer to the net but can’t have a foot in the kitchen. In other words, you can only have a foot in the kitchen when hitting a ball that’s already hit the ground once. If a ball hits the ground twice, or lands anywhere except your opponent’s side of the court (including the kitchen), you lose the rally. Shots on the line are in (except when serving — they can’t be on the back line of the kitchen!).

Scoring: When the team serving the ball wins the rally, they score a point and they switch sides of the court with their partner (from right service area to left, or visa versa). The same person serves again. If the serving team loses, the next person serves.

Whose serve is it? 

The server will keep serving until they lose a rally. In the first serve of the game, when the serving team loses a rally, the ball passes to the right service area of the other court. For the rest of the game, they’ll pass the serve to their partner. When their partner loses, then the ball will go to the other team. When serving, you’ll always state the score and which serve you’re on to help keep track. For example, if your team has two points, the other team has one, and your partner served before you, you’ll say 2-1-2 (two points me, one point you, my partner already served).

When do we win?

You always play to 11. While some folks play that you need to win by two, the group I learned to play with doesn’t, so ask your teammate and opponents how they want to play.

That seemed like a lot of rules — can you walk me through an example?

Sure! Let’s say Black Cat starts the first serve of the game (0-0-2 — the first serve of the game is always “2”).

The Cats win the rally! Black Cat moves to the left service area and Orange Cat moves to the right service area. The Dogs stay put.

Black Cat Serves again (1-0-2). The Dogs win the rally.

Now Brown Dog serves (0-1-1). The Dogs lose the rally.

Now Yellow Dog serves (0-1-2). The Dogs lose the rally.  Service goes to the Cat in the right service area (now the Orange Cat).  And so on.

That doesn’t seem so hard! How can I play?

You only need three things to play pickleball: a paddle, a pickleball (similar to a wiffle ball), and a court.

Paddles 

There are many materials that pickleball paddles can be made from, ranging from fiberglass to carbon fiber to graphite to any combination of the three. There are also various shapes with wider bodies or elongated lengths. New companies are now coming out with pretty designs as well. But my advice? Start with two low-investment paddles. You can always invest in nicer ones as you get better and use your original paddles to recruit new friends to the sport.

Here are a few couple of paddle sets easily available on Amazon that were recommended around my local pickleball court (bonus, they come with a carrying case and balls): niupipo Pickleball Paddle Set and VINSGUIR Pickleball Paddle Set.

Balls

If you order the sets above, or need to buy new balls, you’ll notice there are two types: indoor and outdoor. The indoor balls have 26 holes while the outdoor balls have 40 holes (which are also a bit smaller). The outdoor balls also have thicker plastic and are a bit heavier, which makes them less affected by wind and help with durability.

Courts

Seattle

Here in Seattle, we’re lucky to have lots of places to play! If you’re based here, I recommend checking out the courts at Green Lake (near East Beach). Every day of the year, rain or shine (yes, sometimes we get shine), there’s a group playing and welcoming newcomers. When you show up, place your paddles in the line (a stack of four makes a group ready to play). Paddles placed handle down are beginners, to the right are moderate, and up are experts. Feel free to make a new pile if there aren’t any “beginner” stacks with fewer than four paddles. 

Before you leave, it’s recommended to make a donation to Peter (@Peter-Seitel-1) on Venmo — he uses the funds to reserve the courts every day so the group doesn’t have to compete with tennis players or folks who don’t want to play with others. You can learn more about the group or sign up to be on their email list at greenlakepickleball.com

If you live in a different part of the city, or prefer to play without the group (or indoors), here is a list of courts in the greater Seattle area.

Chicago

Chicago Parks have a number of pickleball courts, both indoors and outdoors. Here is a list of courts in Chicago.

FFC also offers pickleball at two of their locations — Union Station and Gold Coast. They also offer lessons ($35 for members, $38 for non-members at Union Station, $25 per session at Gold Coast for members).

Other cities

Check out your local parks district to see if there are any pickleball courts near you. Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) and YMCAs also tend to offer low-cost membership to play indoors.

USA Pickleball also maintains a list of courts.

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About Dani Kruger

As a proud New Englander at heart, Dani loves the outdoors and anything maple-flavored. After a decade in the Midwest, she moved to Seattle where she loves the mild temperatures and mountain views. Dani's competitive nature is no secret, whether she's trying to do yoga at all of the state capitol buildings (23 so far!) or seeing how much vertical she can run each month in the mountains of the PNW. By day, she nerds out behind the computer as a data analyst for a health care consulting firm, where she works to ensure all individuals have timely access to high quality health care services.