SIX WAYS TO PLAY PICKLEBALL

Most people assume there are two ways to play Pickleball – Singles and Doubles (Duh) – but they would be wrong. Creative players have devised some other ways including the following:

Diagonal Singles: Sometimes 2 players would rather not have to cover the entire court without a partner. Something that works quite well is to play “diagonally” meaning that after serving to the opponent to the side of the court diagonally across form the side of the court where the serve is initiated, which is always the case, the players must return balls thereafter only to the side where each player starts off on any given point. If not, the ball is considered out of bounds and the point is lost. (“Skinny Singles”).   Sound confusing? The only issue is keeping your wits about you to adjust to the constantly changing boundaries.

Three Players: When there are only 3 players at the court, they sometimes get tired of waiting for a fourth in hopes of playing doubles. There are at least 3 ways that 3 players can play together.

• One against two with one player taking on two opponents and covering the entire court on his or her side This works best where the one player is at a higher ability level than the two others.
• One against two where the two players have to hit only diagonally to the side occupied by the solo player at the beginning of each point, otherwise the ball is considered out of bounds and the point is lost.
• Rotation system (“Australian Doubles”). : Each time a point is scored the players rotate so that each player gets a turn at facing the other two. In this scenario the 3 players keep their score individually. The player serving announce the score at each point reciting his score first followed by the other two.(“Australian Doubles”)

We are sure there are yet other ways to play limited only by the imagination of the players involved – all adding to the opportunities and fun of the sport.