What is pickleball? Pickleball is a game played by both men and women on a court that looks quite similar to a tennis court, but this sport is very different from tennis. Pickleball has gained massive recognition in recent times, although it’s been around since 1964. Pickleball is played with smooth-faced paddles with hollow balls and could be played with either two or four players. Players play on a pickleball court which is similar to what a tennis court looks like, measuring 20×44 feet with a 34” inch net dividing the two sides right down the middle.The non-volley zone, also known as “the kitchen” of a pickleball court is a 7 foot zone in which players are not permitted to volley while standing in it. The kitchen rule is made in order to prevent a player from standing close to the net and smashing every hit on their opponent’s side of the court. What many students here at West Boca don’t know is that there is a new club here specifically for playing pickleball!
To learn more about the game I interviewed West Boca Club President Calem Birch:
Can anybody play pickleball? Yes, anybody can play pickleball. We are welcoming of all levels, but people who are more experienced may be inclined to join our future tournaments to get a good shot at winning the tournaments as well as other opportunities.
What are the basic rules? If we want to play a shorter game it would be a game to 7 points, but longer games we will play to 11 points. Come tournament day, though, we will be playing to 15 points, so players may want to practice for that tournament style point system.
How is the game scored? Games are scored based on a rule set first to 7 (11/15 on tourneys) and a player can only score if it is their team’s serve. If an enemy team scores while it is team A’s serve, then the serve will be given to the second teammate on team A with no points awarded. Then if scored on again, team A gives the serve to team B and if team B scores again they earn a point.
What are common strategies?
Common strategies in a doubles game are for the serving player to stay on the lower half of the court in the back while the other player will go up in case the ball bounces close and into the kitchen.
What is the difference between singles and doubles?
Difference between singles and doubles: singles only accounts for one player per team on both sides. Singles could be seen as harder since there is more area to cover while doubles less area needs to be covered by one person
What are common beginner mistakes?
When I first started learning pickleball, a mistake I did a lot was (especially in doubles) moving up too far forward on the court. A player should stay more centrally in the court if playing by himself so that if someone slams a pickleball, there is a higher chance of you getting it than if you were let’s say in the kitchen. Other beginner mistakes could be serving with too much power, causing the ball to fly out of the court or to a different court altogether.
How can someone improve their pickleball skills?
Practice is what makes perfect. I am by no means good at pickleball, I’m not horrible but not the best player on any given court, but here is how I improved: playing pickleball with friends of varying skill levels. For example, I’d play with friends that are just learning and work on maybe different strategies that I want to try out because I am at leisure to do that against more beginner players. People that are as good or better than me, I just do my best to make sure my basics are right like my positioning on the court and my accuracy is still good while picking up the pace.
And lastly, here at West Boca we have a pickleball club, correct? What does the club do?
Yes, at West Boca we do have a pickleball club. The club is planning to have two main types of activities (potentially three): Type 1- friendly matches: these friendly matches are just going to be like a “hey guys anyone that wants to play pickleball we’re getting together at South County”, very casual type practice just come and have fun. Type 2- tourney practices: these practices still encourage people to have fun, but you’d wanna come to practice for an upcoming tournament we have at the end of the semester. If playing doubles, you’d wanna play with the person you’re gonna enter the tournament with. Type 3- tournament day: this day (as obviously named) is tournament day, where right now we’re thinking of a bracket style tournament with the winner being the best team standing. Not sure if we’re making it a singles or doubles only tournament or having 2 different days; one for doubles one for singles.
Interested in learning more? Contact Ms. Jacobowitz :[email protected] or Calem Birch!
