Interested in playing pickleball? Here's some basics to get you started.
Pickleball fun sport that combines many elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. It is played with a paddles and a hollow plastic ball with holes on a badminton-sized court with a slightly modified (lower) tennis net. Pickleball is an adaptable sport it can be played:
- in singles or doubles
- indoors or outdoors
- faster or slower paced
- by a wide range of abilities, skills and age groups.
A game usually takes between 10 and 20 minutes but players usually participate in recreational playing sessions for an average of 2 hours. Each game starts with the serving team sending the ball over the net. The ball must bounce once on each side of the court before volleying can occur – that is the serve and the return of serve must bounce.
If the serving team faults or misses the ball, they lose their serve. But if the receiving team faults or misses the ball, the serving team scores a point. The first team to reach 11 points (as long as they’re 2 points ahead) wins the game.
This video from PlayPickleball.com provides a good overview of the game.
Only just heard about pickleball? Well it actually originated the USA in 1965 when Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum returned home one summer afternoon to find their families bored with nothing to do. Improvising with materials they had on hand, and trialling rules as they played, the sport of pickleball was born.
While there is a fun theory that the game was named after Pritchard's dog "Pickles" (who would allegedly steal the ball); it was actually named by Pritchard's wife Joan who was a competitive rower. In rowing a "pickle boat" is a term used to describe a motley crew of rowers put together at random to compete in races. Often, these were the leftover rowers that no one wanted on their team, and they'd commonly come in last place. Joan said the sport reminded her of a "pickle boat" because it was played by those "leftover" from other sports.
If you're interested in learning more about the history of pickleball you can do so on the USA Pickleball website.
Pickleball is a fabulous sport because it is:
- easy to learn and forgiving for beginners, including those who have never played a sport
- enables players of all skill levels to have an enjoyable game together
- draws on rules and strategies from other sports, so those with knowledge/skills in other racquet/net sports can tranfer them to pickleball
- has a lot of opportunity for skill and strategy development if you're interested in becoming a more advance pickler
- low impact, but can be as physical (fast or slow paced) as you want
- can be a team sport, or an individual one
- a social sport with a growing community
- can be played in short quick games, or multiples over a few hours.
To play pickleball you'll need a regulation court, a net, paddles and balls. If you come along to any of our PACT pickleball sessions these are all provided as part of your fee - so you just need to bring yourself! You're also welcome to bring your own paddle. We have a blog post on buying your own gear if you're interested in purchasing your own materials.
