Description
What is Pickleball?
Pickleball is a paddle sport that’s played with a perforated plastic ball and a net. It’s often described as a combination of tennis, badminton, and ping pong.
Pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, Washington. Three dads (Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum) whose kids were bored with their usual summertime activities, are credited for creating game. Pickleball has evolved from original handmade equipment and simple rules into a popular sport throughout the US and Canada. The game is growing internationally as well, with many European and Asian countries adding courts.
Pickleball is like if tennis, ping-pong, and badminton had a baby, and that baby just wanted everyone to have a good time. Here’s the gist: grab a paddle, a wiffle-like ball, and head to the court. You’ll serve the ball underhand (because we’re classy like that) across the net, aiming to land it in the opposite service box. After the serve, it’s game on! Players hit the ball back and forth, letting it bounce once on each side before they can start volleying. Oh, and watch out for the "kitchen," the no-volley zone near the net! It’s less about cooking and more about keeping things fair. Rallies keep going until someone either misses, sends the ball flying out of bounds, or forgets the rules and smashes it like they’re in Wimbledon. First team to 11 points (and ahead by 2) wins. It’s easy to learn, ridiculously fun, and you might even forget you’re getting a workout!
Let’s talk about the “kitchen rule” – arguably the sassiest rule in pickleball. The “kitchen” is the 7-foot area on both sides of the net where the game says, “Hey, no smashing allowed!” You can’t volley the ball (smack it out of the air) while standing in the kitchen, touching the kitchen line, or even accidentally wandering into the kitchen after a volley like you’re looking for snacks. And if you’re playing doubles? Don’t even think about volleying while your partner is lounging in the kitchen, it’s a no-go for both of you. Why the strict kitchen rules? To keep the game fun, fair, and free of overzealous players turning every rally into a relentless smash-fest. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. When the adrenaline’s pumping and your competitive side takes over, staying out of the kitchen is harder than resisting a plate of cookies sitting on the counter.
Here’s a pickleball twist for you: if you’re on the receiving end of a rally, don’t get too excited, you can’t score a point. Nope, not even if you crush the rally like a champ. What you can do, though, is win the rally and force a side-out, meaning your team gets the serve and finally gets a shot at putting points on the board. It’s like volleyball and squash back in the day when you had to work for the serve before you could even think about scoring. So, if you’re the receiving team, think of it as the ultimate warm-up act before the real show begins—your serve!
Serving in pickleball isn’t about flexing your power, it’s all about channeling your inner underhanded ninja. Unlike tennis, where you can launch a ball like you’re trying to hit the moon, pickleball demands a softer touch. The official rulebook lays it out: your serve must be underhand, and the ball has to be struck below waist level (and no, your waist isn’t wherever your stretchy pants sit, it’s your belly button level, folks). Oh, and there’s more! Your arm has to move in an upward arc, and the paddle head must stay below your wrist when it makes contact. Basically, pickleball serves are a coordinated dance of finesse and physics. It’s like giving the ball a polite little nudge instead of a dramatic farewell!
Just like every other sport, pickleball has its own rule police keeping an eye on the equipment. And yes, even the humble pickleball has to follow the rules. Officially, a pickleball must have 26 to 40 holes. Why so specific? Who knows, maybe they just like a good hole-counting challenge. Here’s the fun part: indoor pickleballs have fewer, bigger holes because they’re like, “Wind? Never heard of her.” Meanwhile, outdoor pickleballs have smaller, more numerous holes to handle wind like the champs they are. Add in differences in weight, plastic, and even colors, and you’ve got a ball that’s perfectly suited to the great indoors or the wild outdoors. It’s a lot to think about for a little plastic ball, but hey, pickleball takes its holes seriously!