PICKLEBALL COURTS

Crafting New Jersey’s Ideal Pickleball Courts

Discover Supreme Kourts®, your go-to source for pickleball court construction in Deal, New Jersey, and the nearby Monmouth County and Ocean County regions. We bring unmatched experience to every project and have a history of excellence dating back to 1958. 

Find out how we can make the pickleball court of your dreams—one that reflects our unwavering dedication to accuracy and quality—a reality.

Perfect Pickleball Courts

Pickleball is a racket sport where two to four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a polymer perforated ball over a net. The sport shares features of other racket sports, the dimensions and layout of a badminton court and a net, and rules similar to tennis with a few modifications. One of the fastest-growing sports in North America, Pickleball was invented in the mid-1960s as a children’s backyard pastime. Still, it quickly became popular among adults as a game fun for players of all skill levels.

The Pickleball Court

Court Dimensions

The pickleball court is similar to a doubles badminton court. The actual size of the court is 20×44 feet for both doubles and singles. The net is hung at 36 inches on the ends and 34 inches in the middle. The court is striped like a tennis court, with no alleys, but the outer courts, and not the inner courts, are divided in half by service lines. The inner courts are non-volley zones and extend 7 feet from the net on either side.

Play

The ball is served underhand from behind the baseline, diagonally to the opponent’s service zone. Points are scored by the serving side only and occur when the opponent faults (fails to return the ball, hits ball out of bounds, steps into the ‘kitchen’ area [the first seven feet from the net, also known as the non-volley zone] in the act of volleying the ball, etc.). A player may enter the non-volley zone to play a ball that bounces and may stay there to play balls that bounce. The player must exit the non-volley zone before playing a volley. The first side scoring 11 points and leading by at least two points wins.

The service return must be allowed to bounce by the server (the server and partner in doubles play); i.e., it cannot be volleyed. Consequently, the server or partner usually stays at the baseline until the first return has been hit back and bounced once.

In doubles play, at the start of the game, the serving side gets only one fault before their side is out, and the opponents begin their serve. After this, each side gets two faults (one with each team member serving) before their serve is finished. Thus, each side is always one serve ahead, behind, or tied.

In singles play, each side gets only one fault before a side out, and the opponent then serves. The server’s score will always be even (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10...) when serving from the right side, and odd (1, 3, 5, 7, 9...) when serving from the left side (singles play only).

Terminology

  • Baseline—The line at the back of the pickleball court (22 feet from the net)
  • Centerline—The line bisecting the service courts that extends from the non-volley line to the baseline.
  • Crosscourt—The opponent’s court is diagonally opposite yours.
  • Dink—A dink is a soft shot with the paddle face open and hit so that it clears the net and drops into the non-volley zone.
  • Fault—An infringement of the rules that ends the rally.
  • Foot fault—Stepping on or into the non-volley zone while volleying a ball, or, while serving, failure to keep both feet behind the baseline with at least one foot in contact with the ground or floor when the paddle contacts the ball.
  • Half-volley—A type of hit where the player hits the ball immediately after it has bounced in an almost scoop-like fashion.
  • Let serve—A serve that touches the top of the net and lands in the proper service court (it is replayed without penalty).
  • Non-volley zone—A seven-foot area adjacent to the net where you may not volley the ball. The non-volley zone includes all lines around it. Also called the “kitchen.”
  • Poach—In doubles, to cross over into your partner’s area to play a ball.
  • Rally—Hitting the ball back and forth between opposite teams.
  • Serve (Service)—An underhand lob or drive stroke used to put a ball into play at the beginning of a point.
  • Server number—When playing doubles, either “1” or “2,” depending on whether you are your side’s first or second server. This number is appended to the score when it is called. As in, the score is now 4-2—second server.
  • Sideline—The line at the side of the court denoting in- and out-of-bounds.
  • Volley—To hit the ball before it bounces.
  • Players—2 or 4
  • Quick Definition of Pickleball includes Video

Pickleball History

The game started in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, at the home of then State Representative Joel Pritchard who, in 1970, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the State of Washington. He and two friends, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum, returned from golf and found their families bored one Saturday afternoon. They attempted to set up badminton, but no one could find the shuttlecock. They improvised with a Wiffleball, lowered the badminton net, and fabricated plywood paddles from a nearby shed.

Although some sources claim that the name “Pickleball” was derived from that of the Pritchard family dog, Pickles, other sources state that the claim is false and that the name came from the term “pickle boat,” referring to the last boat to return with its catch.

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