Pickleball - some more detail
Pickleball is a sport played with a racket that combines elements from badminton, tennis, and ping pong.
The game is played on a court with the same overall dimensions as badminton doubles and the addition of a NVZ (area in blue on Basic Rules sheet below). Click here for more information on run offs.
The net is similar to a tennis net, but a little lower.
The game is played with a hard “paddle” and a hard, hollow plastic ball with holes in it.
Even though pickleball is like tennis, there are important differences that make pickleball especially more accessible for children and seniors.
The most important difference is the speed of the ball. A pickleball ball travels at about a third of the average speed of a tennis ball. It is equally important that the court is somewhat less than a third of the total area of a tennis court.
The smaller surface area combined with the slower ball speed, and an underhand serve make pickleball easier to play than tennis.
The game is the fastest growing game in the USA with more than 4.2 million players. The tipping point was around 5 years ago. Now Pickleball Courts are popping up all over the country including in retirement communities. The game started to take off in the UK around 2011 and now has over 120 Places to play and over 4,000 estimated players.
CLICK for a brief video explanation on How to Play Pickleball
CLICK HERE to download a pdf of the Basic Rules below.
The video below was broadcast on Channel 4 in October 2019. It gives a great overview of pickleball as well as the 2019 English Open tournament.