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CJ Johnson
Tony Roig
Pickleball Rule Review: A “Standing” Rule
There is only one rule that requires you to stand in a certain place during pickleball: when you are serving, you must stand behind the baseline and between an imaginary extension of the center line and the sideline of the court.
Players must alternate receiving the opponents’ serves. So, as a practical matter, a receiver is expected to stand somewhere on the side of the court where the server is required to place the ball.
That’s it. You and your partner are permitted to stand anywhere on or off the court at any other times during play.
That’s right. There is no rule preventing you from standing in the kitchen. You can stand there all day if you like. But why would you?
Bev writes a weekly email blast for our pickleball club. She delivers the rules with clarity and a sense of humor. If you have a rules question post it in the comments below.
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can you step around past the post onto your opponent’s side of the net?
(Inbounds or Out of bounds)
Hi John,only after you make contact with the ball or it is an over and over ball. Otherwise you can’t break the plane of the net (it isn’t a stepping onto side thing – it is a breaking plane thing) This might help explain it better. https://youtu.be/WhOrbMV7kbE
What about the extension of the kitchen? If you volley from out of bounds inside the extension of the kitchen line. Or if you have one foot inside the extension kitchen line but out of the side bounds line . Fault or not?
Hi David, there is no extension of the kitchen line upward. You cannot touch the line or anything inside the kitchen and hit a volley. If you’d like to go deeper here’s a video https://youtu.be/uziKuPl4Ebk and here’s the link to the rulebook. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://usapickleball.org/docs/ifp/USA-Pickleball-Rulebook.pdf
Does this rule apply. To the receiving team as well?
The receiving team may stand anywhere they like.