Consistent Groundstrokes

Last week we talked about the strategies of the return of serve. Since that shot is just a groundstroke, it might be helpful to review some of the basic techniques of the stroke. We started with that yesterday and will continue today with a Mark Renneson video called Better Groundstrokes.

Mark focuses on the contact point to establish a consistent swing that can be replicated time after time. The contact point should be about thigh high and in front of the body.

Pickleball Practice Ball Machine - Simon

I've started researching ball machines in hopes of someday getting the funding to buy one. There are 2 ball machines in the marketplace - Simon and Tutor. I have yet to reach any conclusions, but here are some videos using the Simon machine from the Pickleball Rocks folks.

SIMON The Pickleball Machine

The Perfect Pickleball Practice Partner

Answers to Rules Quiz - More Serve

1. Margy recently added pickleball to her recreational activities in addition to tennis, which she has played for 20 years. In her pickleball games, she occasionally slips into tennis mode and once even tried to serve overhead! A routine she learned in tennis to help calm her nerves is to bounce the ball before her serve. At a crucial point in a recent pickleball game, she bounced the ball and served to Jimmy. Rather than hitting the serve back, Jimmy caught the ball and claimed that Margy faulted by bouncing the ball. Margy said that the bounce was before the point was initiated and Jimmy faulted by not returning the serve. Who is right?

Answer: Margy is right and wins the point. Jimmy confused Margy's legal bouncing with the rule against hitting the serve off a bounce.

Georgia Mountain Pickleball

We have some beautiful mountain views in Western North Carolina but we can't forget that the state to our south, Georgia, has some pretty mountains too. When you have those views, why not build some pickleball courts? That is exactly what Towns County did in Young Harris, GA. This complex opened in September 2015 and a tournament was held that same month. 

The video Hiawassee Georgia Pickleball Rocks shows the complex.

Doubles Scoring and Player Positioning

My experience is that the single most confusing part of the game is keeping score when playing doubles. A doubles score is comprised of 3 numbers. Not 1 number, not 2 numbers, but 3 numbers! An example of a score would be “4-2-1”. What the heck do those 3 numbers mean and how did they get there? This post will try to explain their meaning as well as some other aspects of the scoring sequence.

There are 3 main principles to understand about the score and how it accumulates during the game.

1. Only the serving team can score a point 
2. Each player on a team serves in rotation every time they regain the serve, with the exception of the game-opening rotation 
3. The sequence of the serve includes shifting between courts and teams

Faults Explained

The post Rallies and Faults was a simple list of faults. Many are self-evident and don’t require additional explanation. But some are…let's just say unusual and in need of further clarification.

3. A served ball touches a member of the receiving team after clearing the net and before hitting the court (interference).

Example 1:  A serve hits the receiving team member before hitting the court.

Rallies and Faults

The joy of pickleball is the play - the free-flowing back and forth of opponents trying to beat each other with a shot. The term for this back and forth action is a “rally” and is defined as the continuous play that begins with a serve and ends with a fault. The result of every rally is either a point for the serving team (when a fault is committed by the receiving team) or a loss of serve / side-out for the receiving team (when a fault is committed by the serving team).

Faults are committed when a violation of the rules of play occurs. All of the following are faults:

1. A serve is made with an illegal motion or illegal foot position (see Service Rules).

What is Pickleball?

Pickleball is a racquet sport designed for all ages of player. Some call it a smaller version of tennis since it is played on a hard tennis court surface with a center net like tennis. But the paddles are shorter and the ball is a wiffleball instead of a compressed fuzzy ball. I prefer to describe the game as ping pong on the ground.

However you depict pickleball, one word that should always be included is "fun". The ball moves slower than other racquet sports and the playing area is about 1/3 the size of a tennis court. These factors allow both the very young and the very old to play. The slower pace also allows players of varying skills and fitness to play with one another. Strategic play is often more valued than athleticism.