Pickball

The game appeared in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island , Washington , in the home of Joel Pritchard , who was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1972 and subsequently became governor of the state of Washington . He and his two friends, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum, came back after playing golf one Saturday afternoon and found that their families were bored. They wanted to organize a game of badminton, but no one could find a shuttlecock . Then they made plywood rackets, the badminton net was lowered to the ground and began to play with the Wiffle ball.

The first pickball ball club in Russia was created in June 2017 in the Klimovsk microdistrict of the Podolsk city district by pickleball enthusiast Nikolai Senatorov (1954-2019), laureate of the Our Moscow Region Prize. He volunteered to create pickball sites and conducted free training with everyone. Since 2019, the club bears his name.

The court for playing pickball has dimensions: length -13.41 m, width 6.10 m. Marking lines are included in the court area. The size of the non-game zone is 2.13 m on each side of the grid. The grid is mounted at a height of 0.91m at the side lines and 0.86m at the center. There should be enough space behind the back and side lines for the safe movement of players. For single and double play the same court is used.

Pickball balls are solid. They are made of various materials - wood, aluminum, graphite, composite materials. The cheapest, but also the heaviest - wooden (13-14 dollars). Rackets made of modern materials are about ten times more expensive.

The sum of the length and width of the racket should not exceed 61 cm. The standard size is 40x20.3 cm. The length and width change after 3 mm. The length of the handle and its girth are changing. Racket weight 170-340 grams. The girth of the handle is 100-115 mm.

There are no restrictions on the thickness and weight of the racket in the rules. Through the Internet, you can choose a racket in size, and weight, and design, and afford.

Pickball racket is easy to make at home. Here's a drawing for making a racket for pickball.

Pickball ball - plastic, hollow, with holes. Diameter - 70-76 mm. Weight - 21-29 grams. To play in the air and in the hall, different balls are used. An open-air ball has a smaller diameter of holes, but more holes. Such a ball costs about 2 dollars. You can play with a floorball. The ball costs -100-140 rubles. The floorball is tougher and tighter since it is designed to be hit with a club, not a racket.

The game begins with a draw. Its winner chooses the side of the court, and the loser chooses who to serve. Or vice versa: the winner is to whom to serve, and the loser is on the side of the court.

Points are awarded only to the serving team (for winning their serve, for mistakes of the opponent). Usually play up to 11 points. In this case, the difference in the score should be at least two points. That is, you can not win with the score - 11:10. A match usually consists of three games, that is, they play up to two victories. But a match can consist of one game up to a score of 15 or 21 points. There are other options.

After the completion of each game, the teams change the sides of the court and the right to serve. In a match of three games, teams change sides and in the third game, after one of the teams scores 6 points. The right to serve rests with the serving player. In a game up to 15 points, a side change occurs when 8 points of one of the teams are scored. When playing up to 21 points, a change in the collection of 11 points of one of the teams.

The signal to start the game is the announcement by the judge of the game score. First come the points of the serving team, then the points of the receiving team, then the number of the serving player. For example: 3-2-1. After that, the teams have 10 seconds to start the game.

The first to serve is the player of the serving team located in the right pitch field. If the serving team wins the serve, the first player moves to the left pitch and serves from there. So he changes the pitch, while winning. In this case, the players of the host team remain in their places. If the serving team loses the serve, then the right to serve passes to the second player. He serves from the pitch where the first player was before losing the pitch. In case of a win, changes the pitch. If the serving team admits a second loss of serve, the right to serve passes to the opponent, to the player in the right pitch.

Special rules of pickball - serving only from below, non-playing area near the net, the rule of two rebounds - are designed to facilitate and simplify the game.

1. Feeding is due to the back line. The blow is inflicted on the ball from below. The racket should go below the waist. After hitting the ball must cross the court diagonally to the opposite side, passing the non-playing area.

2. On each side of the grid is a non-play area of ​​two meters wide. Being in it, the player has no right to strike the ball “from the summer”.

3. At the beginning of the game, each side strikes the ball only after it bounces off the court / except for the serve itself /. After two bounces, one on each side, strikes can be applied both to the flying ball and to the ball bouncing off the court.

1. International Pickball Ball Federation
2. " All About Pickleball Court Dimensions ." The Pickleball Paddle USA Website. The Pickleball Paddle Inc. June 11, 2018
3. " Pickleball Guide ". Indoored.com Indoored inc
4. In Podolsk Park on Saturdays will begin to conduct free classes in pickball RIAMO
5. In Podolsk on Saturday there will be a pickball tournament dedicated to the Day of Defender of the Fatherland RIAMO
6. Pickleball lesson in Podolsk school became the first in Russia
7. Pickball is developing in Klimovsk
8. Podolchan invited to play pickball
9. September 4 in Klimovsk start free pickball lessons
10. Podolsk laureates of the annual award of the governor "Our Moscow Region"