The Growing Popularity of Pickleball
You’re heard of it – pickleball. But did you know it is the fastest growing sport in America for the third year in a row with 8.9 million players in the U.S.? So, what is it and how do you play?
Pickleball combines the elements of tennis, ping-pong and badminton, and is usually played in singles or doubles. You can play indoors or outside and the only equipment is a plastic ball with holes and a paddle. The court includes 4 serving areas and the no-volley zone otherwise known as "the kitchen" spanning 14 feet or 7 feet on each side of the net. Pickleball is an ideal sport for any age and ability.
How do you play Pickleball and What are the rules?
The serve must be underhanded and cross-court and bounce before being returned. The double bounce rule is that both the serve and the return must bounce for play to continue. Once the serve and return have both bounced, you can hit the ball off the bounce or you can volley the ball. Rally continues until there is a fault; the ball bounces out of bounds, the ball bounces twice or the ball hits the net or one of the participants.
How do you score in Pickleball?
You can only score if you are the serving team. If the other team faults, you score a point and change sides from right to left and serve again. When you call out the score at the beginning of each serve, you; the first number is the serving team's score, the second is the receiving team's score and the last number is what service turn you're on.
Singles games are scored with the first and second numbers since each side gets only one service turn. Standard games are played to 11 points with the winning team win by 2 points,
Where can I play Pickleball?
Though you can play indoors or outdoors, Denver has seen increased noise and crowd complaints at many of their outdoor courts and some cities have put court construction on hold. The good news? The YMCA of Metro Denver has drop-in Pickleball and Pickleball tournaments at most of our locations. With the summer heat around the corner, there is no better time to pick up your paddle and join us at your local Denver YMCA!