Pickleball 101

The Pickleball Glossary

Every term you’ll hear on the court, in plain English — from the kitchen and the two-bounce rule to dinks, drops, and DUPR. New to the sport? This is your cheat sheet.

The Court & Basics

Pickleball: A paddle sport played on a badminton-sized court with a perforated plastic ball and solid paddles. It combines elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis, and can be played as singles or doubles.
Baseline: The back boundary line of the court, 22 feet from the net. Serves must be made from behind the baseline.
Sideline: The side boundary line running the length of the court. A ball landing on the sideline is in.
Centerline: The line that divides the two service courts on each side, running from the kitchen line to the baseline.
Service court: One of the two boxes on each side of the court where a serve must land. Serves are made diagonally to the opponent's service court.
Paddle: The solid, stringless implement used to hit the ball, typically made of composite, graphite, or wood.

The Kitchen (Non-Volley Zone)

Kitchen: The common name for the Non-Volley Zone — the 7-foot area on each side of the net where you may not hit the ball out of the air (volley). You can enter it and play a ball that has bounced.
Non-Volley Zone (NVZ): The official name for the kitchen: the 7-foot zone adjacent to the net. Volleying while any part of your body touches this zone (or its lines) is a fault.
Kitchen line: The line 7 feet from the net that marks the back of the Non-Volley Zone. The line itself is part of the kitchen.
Kitchen violation: A fault called when a player volleys the ball while touching the Non-Volley Zone, including the line, or carried momentum from a volley causes them to touch it.

Shots

Dink: A soft shot hit from near the kitchen line that arcs over the net and lands in the opponent's kitchen. Dinks slow the game down and force opponents to hit up.
Third shot drop: A soft, arcing shot hit from near the baseline (the third shot of a rally) that lands in the opponent's kitchen, giving the serving team time to move up to the net.
Drive: A hard, flat, fast groundstroke hit with pace, often used as an aggressive third shot or to attack a high ball.
Volley: Any shot hit out of the air before the ball bounces. Volleys are legal everywhere except the Non-Volley Zone.
Groundstroke: A shot hit after the ball has bounced once, typically from the mid-court or baseline.
Lob: A high, deep shot hit over the opponents' heads to push them back off the kitchen line.
Reset: A soft shot that absorbs pace and drops the ball into the opponent's kitchen, used to neutralize an attack and return the rally to a slow, controlled state.
Erne: An advanced shot where a player jumps around the outside of the kitchen (or lands outside it) to volley a ball near the net without a kitchen fault.
ATP (Around the Post): A shot hit around the outside of the net post rather than over the net — legal in pickleball, and there is no height requirement, so it can pass below the net's height.
Half volley: A shot hit immediately after the bounce, while the ball is still low to the ground — a pickup shot often played in the transition zone.
Punch volley: A compact, firm volley hit with a short punching motion, used to speed up the ball or attack at the net.

Strategy & Movement

Stacking: A doubles positioning strategy where partners line up on the same side before a serve or return so they can keep their preferred forehand/backhand sides after the point starts.
Poach: When a player crosses over to cut off and hit a ball that would normally be their partner's, usually to take an aggressive volley.
Transition zone: The mid-court area between the baseline and the kitchen line (sometimes called 'no man's land'). Players try to move through it quickly to reach the net.
Split step: A small hop that lands you balanced on the balls of your feet just as your opponent strikes the ball, letting you react quickly in any direction.
Stack and switch: Partners switching sides during or after a point (often paired with stacking) to keep their stronger sides aligned.

Scoring, Serving & Faults

Two-bounce rule: After a serve, each side must let the ball bounce once before volleying: the return must bounce, and the serving team's next shot must bounce. This prevents serve-and-volley and creates longer rallies.
Side out: When the serving team loses the serve and it passes to the opponents. In traditional scoring, only the serving team can score points.
Fault: Any rule violation that ends the rally — hitting the ball out of bounds, into the net, volleying in the kitchen, or breaking the serve or two-bounce rules.
Let: A serve that clips the net but still lands in the correct service court. Under current USA Pickleball rules, a let serve is live and play continues (there is no replay).
Rally scoring: An alternative scoring format in which a point is awarded on every rally regardless of who served — faster and increasingly used in some formats. Traditional pickleball scores only on the serve.
Server number: In doubles, the '1' or '2' called as the third number in the score (e.g., 4-2-1), indicating whether the first or second server on a team is currently serving.
Foot fault: A serving fault caused by stepping on or over the baseline (or the wrong side of the centerline extension) before contacting the ball.

Ratings & Play

DUPR: Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating — the sport's most widely used rating system, a number roughly from 2.0 to 8.0 based on real match results. See our full guide to DUPR ratings.
Banger: A player who relies mostly on hard, fast drives rather than the soft dinking and drop game — often used to describe an aggressive, power-first style.
Pickled: Losing a game 11-0 without scoring a single point — the pickleball equivalent of being shut out.
Open play: Drop-in, unstructured play where players rotate on and off courts, typically organized by skill level. The most common way to play casually.
Round robin: A format in which every team plays every other team, common in recreational leagues and social events.

What’s a DUPR rating?

The rating every serious player tracks — what it is and how it works.

New to pickleball?

How to start — where to play, gear, and finding beginner games.

Now go put these to use

Knowing the terms is step one — the fun part is playing. VolleyForge matches you with players near you at your level. Free to join.