a) Volley Serve
At the time the paddle strikes the ball:
There server’s arm must be moving in an upward motion. This applies to forehand and backhand volley serves
The highest point of the paddle head must not be above the highest part of the wrist where the wrist joint bends at the point of contact
Contact must be at or below waist level.
b) Drop Serve
The Server must release the ball from one of their hands or drop it off their paddle face from any natural (unaided) height and hit the ball after it bounces
There is no restriction on how many times the ball bounces before being hit, or where it bounces on the playing surface
During the ball drop, you must not propel or throw the ball downwards, or it upward off your paddle
These rules apply to forehand and backhand drop serves.
Where to stand when serving – At the time you strike the ball when serving:
Neither feet may touch the court on or inside the baseline, and you must be within the imaginary extensions of the court side and center lines.
At least one foot must be on the playing surface (no aerial serves allowed)
Your serve must reach the correct service court (the service box diagonally opposite the server).
There is no ‘let’ in pickleball. The serve can touch the net but must clear the non-volley zone (NVZ) and the kitchen line. Any other line on the service court is in.
If the serve clears the net or touches the net and then touches the receiver or the receiver’s partner, the server wins the point.
As you’re learning pickleball, it’s important to know how to score accurately. We’ll walk you through how to keep and call the score in a doubles game as that is the way we play in the Club.
Service Order
Doubles Both players on a team will serve before a side out is declared, except at the start of the game when only the starting server will serve
The starting server in each game is designated as server two
A side out will occur once a rally is lost, or a fault is committed by the serving team during their second server’s service. After a side out, service is awarded to the other team
The starting serve after any side out, will always be made by the player on the right (even) side of the court. If the serving team’s score is even, the starting server will be the first server. If the serving team’s score is odd, the other player will be the first server and the starting server will be second.
Calling the Score
When playing doubles in pickleball, the score will be called as three numbers as follows.
The proper sequence for calling the score is: server score, receiver score, then, for doubles only, the server number: 1 or 2
To start a match, the score will be called as: zero - zero – two (0 -0 -2). This means that as soon as the serving team commits a fault, the other team gets to serve.
Two Bounce Rule
After the ball is served, each side must make one ground stroke prior to volleying the ball
The receiver must let the ball bounce before returning the serve
The serving team must let the return of serve bounce before playing their next shot
From the 3rd shot, players can volley the ball.
Non-Volley Zone (Kitchen) Rules
All volleys must be initiated outside the non-volley zone (the Kitchen). If you have been in the kitchen, you must have both feet on the surface outside the non-volley zone before hitting a volley
It is a fault if the volleying player or anything that has contact with the volleying player touches or enters the non-volley zone while in the act of volleying. This includes:
The swing, the follow through, and the momentum from the volley action
The paddle touching the non-volley zone during, before or after the contacting the ball
The volleying player’s momentum carries them into the non-volley zone or causes the player to contact anything that is touching the non-volley zone, including their partner (even if the ball has become dead before this happens)
The non-volley zone includes the kitchen line so be aware of your feet.
In short - you can be in the non-volley zone at any time and play a ball that has bounced in the kitchen, but when volleying the ball, you cannot make any kind of contact with the non-volley zone.
Canterbury Pickleball DUPR Sessions
Canterbury Pickleball Club will organise specific DUPR sessions. These will be advertised and players who join these sessions will have their games recorded and entered on DUPR by the club administrator. All matches on those sessions will count. If you are joining a DUPR session, expect ‘real’ competition, rather than rec play games!
To join these sessions, you will need to be a DUPR member.
1. Existing DUPR members
There is nothing for you to do.If you are a CPC member, you will be added to the club in DUPR automatically.
2. Players without a DUPR account
If you wish to enter a DUPR event, you will need create a free DUPR account (via their website or app – available for Android and iOS).
Once registered, go to ‘Clubs’, search for Canterbury Pickleball and Join.
To learn more about the rating algorithm check out ‘How your DUPR rating is calculated” in the ‘About DUPR’ section below.
What is DUPR?
DUPR (rhymes with “super”) stands for Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating and was developed in 2021 by Steve Kuhn, founder of Major League Pickleball (MLP). DUPR aims to be the most accurate, global rating system in pickleball.
How DUPR works
All players, regardless of their age, gender, location or skill are rated on the same scale between 2.000-8.000 based on their match results.
Those accustomed to the conventional rating system, with ratings ranging from 2.5 to 5.0, will find their DUPR rating fits within that scale, while at the top end, the professional ratings are expanded above 5.000 up to 8.000. Ben Johns, the current No. 1 player, is rated 7.131.
DUPR is an algorithm that uses a player’s last 30 singles or 60 doubles eligible matches. The algorithm considers three factors:
Points Won: How many points did you win?
Victory: Did you win or lose?
Type of Result: Was this a self-posted rec play score, a league match, an unsanctioned tournament or a sanctioned tournament result?
The image below gives a good summary of how the DUPR ranking works. The important thing for the club members is that matches that are logged on club sessions (by the DUPR Canterbury Club administrator) worth more than rec play sessions.
When a player creates their account, DUPR gives them the rating “NR” (No Rating). Think of this as a placeholder, a starting point as DUPR begin to gather data about your performance. Once the first match is logged, whether it's a singles or doubles game, it sets in motion a designed mechanism to create their initial rating for that match type.
From the moment a player plays their first match, a timer kicks into action. The essence of this timer is twofold:
Every match a player plays in the 7-day span contributes points towards shedding their "NR" status. However, not all matches are weighed equally–some matches provide more information than others based on the rating status of the opponents! The value of a match is determined based on the familiarity of the players involved.
Here's the rundown:
1 Point - If our new player is the only 'unknown' entity in a match.
0.5 Points - If the new player's teammate also does not have a rating, but the entire opponent team does.
0.25 Points - If the teammate has a rating, but one opponent still does not.
0.125 Points - When only one player in the entire match has a known rating.
0.0625 Points - In matches where every participant's rating is up in the air.
The target? To accumulate 3 points. Once you do, you’ll be initialised with a rating! If you can’t manage to get to 3 points, that’s okay, DUPR will give you their best guess 7 days after your first match is entered, but the more you play the better the DUPR guess will be for you and the quicker your rating will home in on the truth.
Check out the Official USA Pickleball Rulebook and supporting information about equipment standards and wheelchair rules HERE
USA Pickleball and Pickler resources on how to play pickleball can be found HERE
One of the great things about Pickleball is the sense of community and inclusion, even at competitive levels. The reason for this is a strong sportspersonship guide. We expect members to respect this code, so please familiarise yourself with it.