INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF PICKLEBALL

About

As a racquet sport, pickleball is new. The game’s origin dates to 1965 in Bainbridge Island, Washington, when a group of friends returned from a game of golf one Saturday afternoon and found their families needed something to do. This inspired them to improvise by building paddles using plywood from a nearby shed. It was in 1972 that Pickle-Ball Inc was incorporated and continued to manufacture more paddles to grow the sport.  

The court is like a double's badminton court, with a size of 20 by 44 feet for both doubles and singles. A net separates the rectangular court and is hung at 36 inches on the ends and 34 inches in the middle. The stripes on the court are the same as with tennis courts, without the alleys. One half is divided into an inner and outer court. The outer court is divided in two and acts as the service area, while the inner court alongside the net is a non-volley area. The distance from the net to the outer court is seven feet. A player serves the ball from behind the baseline using an underarm stroke. The contact with the ball during a serve is therefore below waist level, with your waist regarded as the navel level. The server hits the ball diagonally across court to the opponent’s service court area.  

Points are scored only by the serving side and play ends for a point once a side commits a fault. Many of the faults are like tennis, but there are exceptions. A player may not volley the ball on a service return. A ball may also not be volleyed on the first return by the serving side. A player may also not volley the ball while standing in the non-volley zone. The first side to score 11 points while also leading by at least two points, wins the match. Wheelchair pickleball is also officially recognised as a competitive branch of pickleball.  

The International Federation of Pickleball is the international authority for the sport. The goal of IFP is to oversee the rules, manage international competitions, and grow the sport worldwide for all age groups.  

International Federation of Pickleball

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