FAQ
Lessons, booking, your account — and a plain-language guide to the rules if you are brand new to pickleball.
Bring water and comfortable athletic clothes. Court shoes are best if you have them, but regular tennis shoes are fine for your first few lessons. You do not need to buy anything special before you start: loaner paddles are available for free if you need one, and balls will be provided. Safety glasses are not required, but they are highly recommended.
No. Loaner paddles are available at no charge, so you can take your first lessons before deciding what to buy. After you have played a few times you will have a much better sense of what weight and grip size suit you.
None at all. Plenty of students book a first lesson having never picked up a paddle. Lessons are built around where you are right now, so a complete beginner and an experienced player get very different sessions.
Four formats. Private is one player, one-on-one. Semi-private is two players. Group lessons run 3–8 players. Mini clinics take 4–8 players through a session of drills followed by round-robin play with live coaching. Full descriptions and exact durations are in the Lesson Options table.
It depends which format you pick, and most formats offer more than one length. The Lesson Options table lists the exact durations available for each, including one length that is not offered at every location.
Lesson fees can be found in the Lessons section here.
Payment is due at the lesson. Venmo, cash and check are accepted.
Start on the Book page. It asks a few quick questions — the kind of lesson you want, whether you have a coach preference, where you like to play and when you can make it — then sends us the request. It takes about a minute.
Private, semi-private and group lessons can all be requested there. For a mini clinic, get in touch and we will set it up with you.
Booking sends a request, not an instant reservation. We check it against coach and court availability and email you once it is booked, with the date, time and location. You can see the current status any time under My Lessons in your account.
If weather cancels an outdoor lesson there are two ways to handle it: move to the closest indoor location, or reschedule for another day. You can record which you would prefer in your account, under your lesson locations, and we will be in touch to sort out the details.
You can cancel a lesson from My Lessons in your account. If you need to move a lesson, send us a message and we’ll work out a new time with you. There is no penalty — we just ask that you let us know as soon as you can, so the court and the coach’s time can go to someone else.
There is no password. Enter your email on the sign-in page and we send you a secure link — click it and you are in. You can also continue with a Google account. If the email has not arrived after a few minutes, check your spam folder; there is more help on the Need help signing in? page.
Yes. Please read and sign the liability waiver before your first lesson — it takes about five minutes. If the waiver text is ever updated, we will ask you to read and sign the current version.
New to pickleball? These are the rules that trip up almost everyone at first. The answers below describe traditional side-out scoring — what recreational games and lessons use. Some tournaments now use rally scoring instead, where the numbers work differently.
The kitchen is the seven-foot zone on each side of the net — its real name is the non-volley zone, and the line itself counts as part of it. You may stand in the kitchen, but you cannot hit the ball out of the air while any part of you is touching the zone or its line.
It is also a fault if your own momentum carries you into the kitchen after a volley, even after the ball is dead — so you cannot volley from just outside and fall in. That one restriction is what stops players camping at the net and smashing everything, and it is what makes pickleball a game of placement more than power.
The ball has to bounce once on each side before anyone may volley. The serve must bounce before the returning team hits it, and the return must bounce before the serving team hits it. After those two bounces, either side can take the ball out of the air. It exists so the serving team cannot rush the net for an easy advantage.
You serve from behind the baseline, diagonally into the opposite service box, and the ball must land past the kitchen line. You get one attempt — there is no second serve as in tennis.
Most players use the traditional volley serve, struck out of the air. Three things have to be true at the moment you hit it: your arm is swinging upward, contact is below your waist, and the head of your paddle is no higher than your wrist. A drop serve is also legal — drop the ball, let it bounce, then hit it — and none of those three restrictions apply to it. Either is fine; use whichever you find easier to repeat.
Only the serving side can score a point. In doubles you call three numbers: your team’s score, the other team’s score, and whether you are your side’s first or second server. So “4–2–1” means your team has four, the other team has two, and you are the first server. When both partners have lost their serve, the other team takes over.
Because only the serving team can score, and serving first is already an advantage. Normally each team gets two turns at serving before the ball goes over — one for each partner. If the starting team got both of those turns, it would have two separate chances to build a lead before its opponents had served even once.
Taking away that second turn is what evens out the start. It does not cap how much the first team can score — a single server can win several rallies in a row — but it removes one of their two opportunities, so whoever happens to start does not carry a double advantage into the game.
In practice the very first server of the game is simply treated as the second server — which is why the opening score is called “0–0–2”. One lost rally and the serve passes straight over.
Games are usually played to 11 and you have to win by two, so a game can run past 11. Tournaments sometimes play to 15 or 21, but recreational games and lessons are almost always to 11.
A fault ends the rally. The common ones are hitting the ball into the net, hitting it out of bounds, volleying while any part of you is in the kitchen, and letting the ball bounce twice on your side. If your side was serving you lose the serve; if you were receiving, the other side scores.
A ball touching any line is in — with one exception. On a serve, the ball may not land on the kitchen line; that is a fault. Every other line, including the baseline and sidelines, counts as in.
For the complete official rules, see the USA Pickleball rulebook.
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