Pickleball

Break-down of Open Play, Lessons, and Clinics

• Register for a Beginner or Learn to Play Clinic or Lesson before you try Open Play
• If you have never taken a Pickleball Lesson, you must register for a Beginner or Learn to Play Clinic

LESSONS
Ready to elevate your game? Join us for weekly 1-hour (4 people) and 90-minute (8-12 people) lessons and discover new skills and techniques in a welcoming environment. Group lessons are available every Monday and Tuesday. Don't miss out—take your Pickleball game to the next level at the Boulder JCC.

• If you have never taken a Pickleball Lesson, you must register for a Beginner or Learn to Play Clinic first
• To take an Intermediate Lesson, you must have taken an Advanced-Beginner Lesson and/or get approved by our Pickleball Pro. Email Maya Harvey for more information

Beginner: Have played a little, maybe taken a Learn to Play Clinic, and need to improved on things like scoring, where to stand, and general skills
Advanced Beginner: Know how to score, want to improve on consistency and movement on the court
Intermediate: Have taken many advanced beginner lessons and ready to move into precision and strategy based on lessons. can consistently rally about 20 shots in a row
Advanced Intermediate: Advanced players who hit precise shots and want to compete with high-level players

Take part in skill-building clinics tailored to your skill level and Pickleball needs. These 2-hour clinics are taught by our nationally ranked Pickleball Pro.

Learn to Play: This clinic is for newbies! You will learn some basic techniques, rules and scoring! Paddles are available for use during the lesson.
Advanced Beginner Skills & Drills: Players should know basic shots, rules and how to score. This clinic will help those who are struggling with some consistency and need some coaching on technique and strategy. The first hour will be drills followed by an additional hour of coached gameplay.
Intermediate Skills & Drills: Players should know how to execute all the basic shots with some consistency: Serve, return, dink, and 3rd shot drop. The first hour will be drills followed by an additional hour of coached gameplay.
Advanced Beginner or Intermediate Social Mixer: This mixer is for players who are confident in scoring and rules and are ready for some friendly competition. There will be three courts of doubles play. A timer is set for 15 minutes. At the end of 10 minutes, the winning teams moves up a court and split partners and losers move down a court and split partners. The
Pickleball Pro will monitor play and help coordinate the mixer.
Intermediate/Advanced Intermediate Endurance: FOR COMPETITIVE PLAYERS ONLY. MUST HAVE ENOUGH MOBIITY AND CONSISTENCY TO WORK ON ADVANCED LEVEL DRILLS. Endurance Pickleball is 2 hours. The first hour is a fun, fast-paced doubles format game with no serves or returns with instructor feeding balls. The goal of the game is to make it to the champion side of the court and defend challenges from attackers. This unparalleled action packed pickleball workout will have you running, sweating, and smiling within minutes. The second hour will be traditional coached game play with facilitated rotations every 10 minutes.

Pickleball Rules Summary

The following is an abbreviated form of the rules to give a quick overview of how the Pickleball is played. If there is a conflict between this summary and the official rules, the official rules prevail. Rules courtesy of USA Pickleball.

 Basic Rules

• Pickleball is played either as doubles (two players per team) or singles; doubles is most common
• The same size playing area and rules are used for both singles and doubles

The Serve

• The server’s arm must be moving in an upward arc when the ball is struck.
• Paddle contact with the ball must not be made above the waist level.
• The head of the paddle must not be above the highest part of the wrist at contact.
• A ‘drop serve’ is also permitted in which case none of the elements above apply.
• At the time the ball is struck, the server’s feet may not touch the court or outside the imaginary extension of the sideline or centerline and at least one foot must be behind the baseline on the playing surface or the ground behind the baseline.
• The serve is made diagonally crosscourt and must land within the confines of the opposite diagonal court.
• Only one serve attempt is allowed per server.

Serving Sequence

• Both players on the serving doubles team have the opportunity to serve and score points until they commit a fault *(except for the first service sequence of each new game).
• The first serve of each side-out is made from the right/even court.
• If a point is scored, the server switches sides and the server initiates the next serve from the left/odd court.
• As subsequent points are scored, the server continues switching back and forth until a fault is committed and the first server loses the serve.
• When the first server loses the serve the partner then serves from their correct side of the court (except for the first service sequence of the game*).
• The second server continues serving until his team commits a fault and loses the serve to the opposing team.
• Once the service goes to the opposition (at side out), the first serve is from the right/even court and both players on that team have the opportunity to serve and score points until their team commits two faults.
• In singles the server serves from the right/even court when his or her score is even and from the left/odd when the score is odd.

*At the beginning of each new game only one partner on the serving team has the opportunity to serve before faulting, after which the service passes to the receiving team.

Scoring

• Points are scored only by the serving team.    
• Games are normally played to 11 points, win by 2.
• Tournament games may be to 15 or 21, win by 2.
• When the serving team’s score is even (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) the player who was the first server in the game for that team will be in the right/even court when serving or receiving; when odd (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) that player will be in the left/odd court when serving or receiving.

Two-Bounce Rule

• When the ball is served, the receiving team must let it bounce before returning, and then the serving team must let it bounce before returning, thus two bounces.
• After the ball has bounced once in each team’s court, both teams may either volley the ball (hit the ball before it bounces) or play it off a bounce (ground stroke).
• The two-bounce rule eliminates the serve and volley advantage and extends rallies.

Non-Volley Zone

• The non-volley zone is the court area within 7 feet on both sides of the net.
• Volleying is prohibited within the non-volley zone. This rule prevents players from executing smashes from a position within the zone.
• It is a fault if, when volleying a ball, the player steps on the non-volley zone, including the line and/or when the player’s momentum causes them or anything they are wearing or carrying to touch the non-volley zone including the associated lines.
• It is a fault if, after volleying, a player is carried by momentum into or touches the non-volley zone, even if the volleyed ball is declared dead before this happens.
• A player may legally be in the non-volley zone any time other than when volleying a ball.
• The non-volley zone is commonly referred to as “the kitchen.”

Line Calls

• A ball contacting any part of any line, except the non-volley zone line on a serve, is considered “in.”
• A serve contacting the non-volley zone line is short and a fault.

Faults

• A fault is any action that stops play because of a rule violation.
• A fault by the receiving team results in a point for the serving team.
• A fault by the serving team results in the server’s loss of serve or side out.

Determining Serving Team

Any fair method can be used to determine which player or team has first choice of side, service, or receive. (Example: Write a 1 or 2 on the back of the score sheet.)

What is my skill-level?

Meet the Pickleball Pro

KATHY MIHELIC
PPR Certified Pickleball Professional, Team HEAD Penn Pickleball Sponsored Player, USA Pickleball Nationals Silver Medalist, Rocky Mountain State Games Gold Medalist, Great Plains Regional Gold Medalist, Former Women’s Tennis Team at CU Boulder, Former Tennis Instructor, Ironman Triathlete

Kathy Mihelic is a PPR (Professional Pickleball Registry) Certified Pickleball Professional. She is a member of the USAPA and is a Regional Marketing Coordinator and Sponsored Player for Team HEAD Pickleball. Kathy earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and her Master’s Degree in Business from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. Kathy was a member of the University of Colorado Women’s Tennis Team and became a tennis teaching pro for many years when she lived in Kansas before entering the corporate world, having careers in office furniture, pharmaceutical, and biotech sales.

Kathy met her husband Dan in their first year at CU in Boulder and they have been married 32 years. After having raised their two children in Wichita, they moved back to Colorado in 2015. If she’s not spending time with her family or playing pickleball, Kathy enjoys hiking, biking, and snow skiing. Her craziest sports adventures over the last 10 years include competing in a full-distance Ironman Triathlon, biking the Copper Triangle, cycling up Mount Evans, the Pikes Peak Ascent, and hiking the Boulder Skyline Traverse. She enjoys happy hour with friends, and her motto for both happy hour and pickleball is “Dink responsibly and don’t get smashed”! 

Kathy says she fell in love with Pickleball, the fastest-growing sport in the United States, because it combines exercising, competing, and using your mind while socializing and having fun with friends. Unlike many sports, it is something, men, women, and children can spend time playing and enjoying together. She says she has met so many amazing people and made friends all over the country just from playing Pickleball!

Contact Maya Harvey for private lesson or semi-private lesson information.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

In order to receive a refund for Pickleball, you must cancel at least 72 hours prior. If your Pickleball Lesson and/or Clinic is on Monday, please try to cancel by Friday.