THE DPW recently lined the Newhall Park tennis court for pickleball. (Courtesy Photo)

 


How to play and where to try it nearby

 

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

LYNNFIELD — It is America’s fastest growing participation sport.

It has a professional league, two pro tours and has recently appeared on national television on CBS. This year, nearly five million players across the US play it.

That sport is pickleball.

Pickleball started its major growth when the pandemic took place a couple of years ago as people were looking for another outdoor activity.

Although the sport is getting national headlines now, pickleball was invented way back in 1965 in Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, in Washington. This year, pickleball was named the official state sport in Washington.

Pickleball is a combination of tennis, Ping-Pong and badminton. The court is 44 feet long and 20 feet wide. The net is 36-inches high on the ends and 34 inches at the center. The net posts are 22 feet from the inside of one post to the inside of the other one.

The ball is a perforated hollow polymer ball that looks a lot like a wiffle ball and the racquets are solid faced paddles.

The seven-foot areas on both sides of the net (called the Kitchen in the pickleball world), are the non-volley zone and players are not allowed to  step into the area so players have to lean in to return those shots. They also have to allow the ball to bounce once in this zone.

Twenty-two feet from the net, the baseline marks the outer boundary of the playing area. The area between the non-volley line and the baseline is the service court. A center-line divides the service court into left and right sides.

The scoring can only be done by the serving team as the server must serve underhanded. To minimize any advantage the serving or receiving side might have at the beginning of the game, the ball must bounce once on each side of the net before either team may hit the ball in the air before it bounces.

A serve must land in the diagonal service court on the opponent’s side of the net. The serve receiver must allow the ball to bounce once before returning the ball to the server′s side of the net. Once the receiver has returned the ball over the net, the serving side must also allow the ball to bounce once before returning the ball back to the non-serving side. This is known as the two-bounce rule.

After the first two returns either side may volley the ball  (return the ball before it bounce). The ball can never bounce more than once before it is returned like tennis. No player is allowed to volley the ball while standing in the Kitchen, or while touching any of the lines around the non-volley zone.

The first side scoring 11 points, leading by at least two points, wins the game. Tournament games may be played to 11, 15 or 21 points with players rotating sides at 6, 8 or 11 total points respectively.

Just like tennis, pickleball can be played in singles or doubles. It can also be played indoors as well.

The sport is very popular for older people as roughly 50 percent of its regular players are 55 or older. A lot of former tennis players have converted to the sport.

Pickleball courts are in the area as the Torigian Family YMCA in Peabody has them.

The Lynnfield DPW recently lined the tennis courts for pickleball at Newhall Park located at 7 Oak St.

There are also some new courts at the MacKenna Courts near Veterans Field in Wakefield that recently opened.

There are 26 pickleball league in the greater Boston area according to Global Pickleball Network for players interested in joining one.

For more information, prospective players can go on to USA Pickleball, which is the governing body, website at: usapickleball.org.