Understanding the basics of Pickleball Serving, Receiving, & Scoring
Starter tips and tricks from Steve and Tim
How to remember where to be on the court and who serves (and calling scores)!
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• Points are made/scored by the serving team.
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• All turns at service for a team start on the right side of each court.
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• The score is called as: our score - their score – server #. Example: “zero-3-1” (called by server #1), or “5-3-2” (called by server #2)
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• Beginning of game only: serving team gets just one server, & calls 0-0-2, thereafter each team has both servers serving.
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• Switch right/left side with partner after each service point won.
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Note this tip – (the odd-even rule)
If for some reason you and partner don’t remember who was on the right and left at end of last point, or want to double check it: Your first server (first right-side player) will always serve on the right when your own score is “even” including 0,2,4,6,8,10, 12, etc.; and your first left-side player begins serving on the right when your score is an odd number. You can likewise note your opponents’ correct positioning by noting which one of them served first, and must serve on their right on all of their even scores.
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AND NOW FOR BEGINNING PLAYERS, THE HARD PART MADE SIMPLE: DON’T MOVE, DON’T SWAP SIDES, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!
So… when a side-out occurs for either team, all four players stay where they are; the new server on the right side is already there and serves, calling: “score-score-1.”
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No one moves except the serving team’s swap; only after a point is scored... It’s that easy!
[Note: You will quickly find that the joy of the game is in wild, crazy long points where teammates have to switch sides during the point to keep the ball in play, and you forget which side you started on. In this case fall back to the “note this tip” above (the odd-even rule). As you advance and play with a partner who is opposite handed, you will “stack.” In which case you will also have to use the “note this tip” advice to help keep track of who should be where.]
