Pickleball: Foot Position When Serving

January 28, 2020Jeff

Recently two people approached me to ask about foot alignment when preparing to serve the ball. Let’s take a look at the pickleball court layout and make sure we understand the terms used.

When standing on the court, the right-hand side is often referred to as the “even” side and the left hand side is often called the “odd” side. We won’t go into the reason for this terminology now.

The line at the very bottom of the court is referred to as the Baseline and in the diagram above, it is being pointed to by the red arrows. Likewise, the corresponding lines on the other side of the court have the same names and distinctions. The line dividing the even and the odd courts is called the Centerline for obvious reasons.

The two double-headed purple arrows mark the right and left Sidelines.

Now let’s take a look at the pickleball court and let’s assume you are Server A in the diagram above. As you know the server has to hit the ball within the rectangle, diagonally cross court, which is represented by the point of the blue arrow.

Server A is standing in a legal position in the diagram above.

Let’s consider a slightly different position for Server A.

What if server A wants to get a better angle and he or she stands outside the sideline when they hit the ball?. Well, that would be an illegal position and thus an illegal serve.

Let’s take a look at the rule governing this situation.

At the beginning of the service motion, both feet must be behind the baseline and the imaginary extensions of the baseline. 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 the centerline and at least one foot must be on the playing surface or ground behind the baseline. Page 17 of the 2020 USAPA Official Rulebook, section 4.A.3

If you notice the rule says “At the time the ball is struck.” When player A hits the ball, his or her feet may not touch the court our outside the imaginary extension of the sideline or the centerline…

The sidelines and centerline theoretically are infinite and the server is obligated to stay within the appropriate boundaries created by these lines when the ball is struck.

Server A then must be standing within the blue shaded area at the time the paddle hits the ball to deliver the serve (see the diagram below).

This applies to both the even and the odd courts on both sides although only the A court is addressed in the diagram.

One last requirement is that “at least one foot must be on the playing surface or ground behind the baseline.”

Summary:

When the ball is struck to deliver the serve, the server must stay with in the corridor formed by imaginary boundary lines that define the appropriate court side (even or odd) as indicated above

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Pickleball: Kitchen (NVZ) Help

March 18, 2019Jeff

After a pickleballer plays their first several games, they soon understand that the Non-Volley Zone (see diagram below) is often referred to as the Kitchen.

Picture Courtesy of School Specialty – Modified for this post.

It is interesting to me that I will often be approached by a pickleballer who asks me: “Do I have to wait until the ball bounces to go into the kitchen?” or “When can I go into the kitchen?” At times, these are people who have been playing for years. Somehow a number of players are under the impression that it is a fault just to step into the kitchen; anytime.

As always, let’s check to see what the rulebook tells us about this situation. SECTION 9 of the 2019 USAPA & IFP Official Tournament Rulebook (pp. 36-37) goes into detail about the non-volley zone rules.

It seems to me there are four important subsections regarding this discussion.

9.A. All volleys must be initiated outside of the non-volley zone.

It is a fault if a person volleys the ball (hits it in the air. i.e without a bounce) while standing inside the NVZ. NOTE: It would also be a fault if a player volleys a ball and their foot is touching any part of the NVZ line even if the rest of their body is not in the kitchen.

9.E. A player may enter the non-volley zone at any time except when that player is volleying the ball.

It is not a fault to enter the NVZ at any time as long as that player does not volley the ball. A player can remain the NVZ the entire game if they wish. Of course this is not a good strategy and would be a rather absurd behavior, but there is no rule against it.

9.F. A player may enter the non-volley zone before or after returning any ball that bounces.

A pickleballer is allowed to enter the NVZ to return a ball that bounces. They may enter either before or after the ball bounces to return a ball that has bounced in the NVZ.

9.G. A player may stay inside the non-volley zone to return a ball that has bounced. There is no violation if a player does not exit the non-volley zone after hitting a ball that bounces.

A player may remain inside the NVZ after a bounced ball is returned. They do not have to exit the NVZ at any specified time interval.

NVZ Best Practice in General

Most accomplished players remain very close to, but not in, the NVZ during much of the game. If a ball falls into the NVZ and bounces, they quickly go after the ball, return it and then step back out of the NVZ. This enables the player to volley a ball that comes their way because they have vacated the NVZ.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out another important, and often misunderstood nuance about the NVZ highlighted below in section 9C.

9. C. – It is a fault if the player’s momentum causes the player to contact anything that is touching the non-volley zone, including the player’s partner.

9.C.1. It is a fault even if the ball is declared dead before the player contacts the non-volley zone.

A player’s momentum cannot carry them into the NVZ after a volley or it is a fault. Even if the ball is dead at the time, their momentum cannot cause them to step into the NVZ after a volley. A player may not touch their paddle down in the NVZ or drop anything into the NVZ or that too is a fault if it is done in the act of volleying.

NOTE – These are not the ONLY rules regarding the NVZ. I only selected those sections that help to answer the underlying basic question of when a player can enter the NVZ without creating a fault.

I believe any serious pickleball player can learn quite a bit by reading the USAPA & IFP Official Tournament Rulebook. You can order your copy HERE! You can also download a free PDF HERE.

If you have questions, leave them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them.

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Pickleball – You Make the Call – NVZ Partner Grab Answer

October 24, 2018October 24, 2018Jeff

Original Scenario Posted on 20181016

The Scenario:

You and your partner are involved in a multi-shot exchange at the non-volley zone with the other team. After a couple of back-and-forths a ball is hit to your partner and he volleys it. In the act of the volley he begins to “teeter” toward the NVZ and it becomes apparent that he is going to step into the NVZ.

According to USAPA rules, it would be a fault if a player’s momentum forces him to step into the NVZ after a successful volley.

Would it be legal, according to USAPA rules, for you to grab your partner to pull him back to avoid his entering the NVZ after such a volley?

The Answer according to USAPA Rules:

It would be “legal” for a player to grab or pull their partner to prevent them from entering the NVZ and avoid causing a fault AS LONG AS the partner doing the grabbing is not themselves in violation of the NVZ rule, i.e. remains outside the NVZ during the maneuver.

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Hue wouldn’t believe my Fuji X T-2 Mishap

June 5, 2018Jeff

“Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills.” — Minna Antrim

My adventure with the Fuji X T-2 started almost a year ago. I use the word adventure deliberately because that has been my experience. I have read two books about how to set up and use the X T-2, but like much technology, all the books in the world often cannot prevent the unpredictable from happening.

What I am about to explain is not technically the fault of the camera and I have to admit that all errors of the sort I am about to explain are clearly on the shoulders of the user; ME. I am merely writing this article so that perhaps others can avoid the frustration and/or disappointment that such occurrences can cause.

OK, by now you are probably wondering “What happened already!”

I recently returned from a trip to Portugal and Spain and of course I could not wait to download my photos to my computer once I got home. Imagine my surprise when all the JPEGs I shot with the X T-2 had a strong magenta cast to them. I was amazed since I had just used the camera prior to the trip without any problems. I couldn’t figure out what went wrong.

Here is what the JPEGS looked like once imported into Lightroom:

I don’t do much international travel. Usually I am headed for landscapes in and around national parks or similar venues in the United States. When I do that, I often take a computer with me and each evening I download and review the files to double check that all is working as anticipated. I can then see if there is dirt on the lens or sensors and whether the settings are basically correct.

Since I would be with a group on this trip and I was concerned about securing a computer when it was not with me and traveling light, I decided to leave the computer at home.

There was another aspect that should have been a clue to me, but I didn’t pay enough attention to it. I was “lulled” into a sense of security.

Let me explain: When looking through the viewfinder (EVF), there was a color cast to the live view image. I ignored it under the assumption that I had inadvertently adjusted the live view setting and that the pictures would not be affected. In the X T-2 references, I read about adjusting the EVF Color so I thought (my bad again!) that I had adjusted the EVF color inadvertently. This was a clue that I should have investigated further.

What “lulled” me into this mindset was the knowledge that the white balance was set to AUTO so how bad could it be? When I would quickly look at the LCD, it wasn’t that obvious to me that there was a color shift.

So imagine my surprise or disbelief when I arrived home and downloaded the pictures and saw that every JPEG had this rather overwhelming magenta color. I was truly puzzled. Trying to correct the JPEGs in Lightroom was very difficult, but what saved me in this instance was shooting RAW plus JPEG. The RAW files, although the finder images showed the same cast, were rendered perfectly once developed in LR.

I tried searching on the Internet and through two books and the owner’s manual to see what the problem might have been. I was like a sailor lost at sea. I really didn’t know what I didn’t know. Thank goodness Fuji has an excellent support team. I called them and within five minutes I had the answer to my problem and learned how to avoid it in the future.

APPARENTLY one of my settings was accidentally changed so that the white balance, although set to AUTO, was manually altered to change the hue of the light when a photo was captured. Like much advanced technology, the X T-2 provides a multitude of choices and with choices comes the possibility of more user errors or “accidental” system changes.

This is what I learned after my call to the support center:

The right selector button (see arrow above) surrounding the rear menu botton is set to change white balance hue by default. There is no lock on this button so when removing the camera from the camera bag, pressing that function button launches an option to change the white balance default color. If not noticed the user can be into the indavertent change for two or three unintended presses before taking the next shot. If it happens when the camera is being placed into the bag and being turned off, it may go unnoticed.

Here is my Tenba bag with my cameras in it.

A closer look shows the arrow pointing to the area of the X T-2 where the selector button in question would be directly on the top side (see arrow below).

You can imagine how it was possible or perhaps probable that the selector button would be pressed when grabbing the camera to take it out of the bag for shooting which I did several times a day.

The technician at Fuji recommended that I change that partuclar function button to provide playback (a safe choice) which would remove that potential problem from my shooting workflow. Of course I also rebalanced the hue to the neutral position while I was making that change.

This was my fault for not knowing what options these buttons controlled and what pressing them can do. You can bet that I will be checking them all before my next shoot! Would it be better perhaps for these buttons to be undefined by default and allow the users to program them as they see fit once the camera arrives at their door?

Takeaways:

The Good:

I was shooting RAW plus JPEG which saved the pictures for me this time. I lost the ability to rely on the JPEGs for color reference, etc., but that was only a small price to pay (IMO) compared to what could have been.

I had a second camera with which I was much more familiar and I took “near duplicates” of the important shots so I had many more pictures to cover myself if the Fuji pics fell short. This goes back to my analog days of doing some professional gigs where I always had multiple cameras “just in case!”

The Bad:

I should have…

Spent more time and care assessing the photos via the LCD to check for color balance, sharpness, etc.

Understood the purpose of the function buttons before going out into the field. Interesting that I have been using it for several months and haven’t had this problem before.

Checked both cards in playback mode from time-to-time before getting home just to check on things.

Given more importance to taking my laptop with me. Perhaps this would have been the wiser thing, but I am still not certain about this one.

Overall, this was not a disaster and I did capture some nice shots. To paraphrase and borrow from an Oprah Winfrey quote:

“I am a photographer in process. I’m just trying like everybody else. I try to take every conflict, every experience, and learn from it. Life and photography is never dull.”

See more photography posts HERE and visit Jeff’s Instagram site HERE

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Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20161101 – The Answer

November 7, 2016Jeff

The Question:

A ball is hit onto your side of the court into the non-volley zone. It is a short shot so your partner goes to get it on a bounce and successfully returns the ball to the opponent’s side of the court.

In the act of hitting the ball back to your opponents, however, your partner’s foot goes under the net and touches the opposing team’s side of the court. The foot does not touch the net.

Is this a legal return or is it a fault? You make the call?

The Answer:

According to Mark Renneson of Third Shot Pickleball and Rule 12.J.2, which states:…The player is also allowed to go around the net post and cross the imaginary extension of the net so long as he or she does not touch the opponent’s court.

The shot above, therefore, is a fault!

To see Pickleball Videos Covering Many Aspects of the Game Click Here (primarily for beginners and less experienced players)

Check out Additional Pickleball Info and Videos! (for all players including average to more experienced players)

Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20161101 – Q & A

November 1, 2016Jeff

The Question:

In the act of hitting the ball back to your opponents, however, your partner’s foot goes under the net and touches the opposing team’s side of the court. The foot does not, however, touch the net.

Is this a legal return or is it a fault? You make the call?

Leave your answer in the comment section! The answer will be presented next week in a follow-up post.

To see Pickleball Videos Covering Many Aspects of the Game Click Here (primarily for beginners and less experienced players)

Check out Additional Pickleball Info and Videos! (for all players including average to more experienced players)

Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20160121 – Answer

January 26, 2016Jeff

The Question:

A pickleball player is standing at the Non-Volley Zone (NVZ) and the front of his shoes curl up in such a fashion that they are actually beyond the NVZ line, but because of the curl, they are not touching the line.

A ball is hit to that player and he makes a return volley back to the opposing team. If an imaginary line was extended downward from the tip of his shoe to NVZ line his foot would have been over that line; is this a fault?

The Answer according to USAPA Rules Chairperson:

“The NVZ, including the NVZ line, is a two dimensional part of the court. So, the tip of the shoe can overlap the line, but if it is not touching the line at the time the player is volleying the ball it is not a fault. The shoe must contact the line in the process of volleying the ball for it to be a fault.” [emphasis mine]

To See Pickleball Videos Covering Many Aspects of the Game Click Here

Check out Additional Pickleball Info and Videos!

JBRish.com originally published this post

Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20160121

January 21, 2016January 21, 2016Jeff

Leave your answer in the comment section! The answer will be presented next week in a follow-up post.

To See Pickleball Videos Covering Many Aspects of the Game Click Here

Check out Additional Pickleball Info and Videos!

Pickleball: Did you Know…about Nonvolley Zone Faults?

May 21, 2015Jeff

Several weeks ago, I shared with viewers of my blog a post demonstrating when a ball that was in play is considered “dead.” It has since been brought to my attention that this does not apply to a ball that is in play in the nonvolley zone.

In accord with the INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OFPICKLEBALL (IFP) OFFICIAL TOURNAMENT RULEBOOK, p. 29

9.C. A fault will be declared if, in the act of volleying the
ball, the player’s momentum causes the player or
anything the player is wearing or carrying to touch the
non-volley zone or touch any non-volley line. It is a
fault if the player’s momentum causes the player to
touch anything that is touching the non-volley zone,
including the player’s partner. It is a fault even if the
ball is declared dead before the player touches the nonvolley
zone.

Well, at least it’s not the Twilight Zone where things could really get weird!

JBRish.com – quips & queries

A life of musings, queries, quips and quandaries

fault

Pickleball: Foot Position When Serving

More Pickleball Videos and Information

Pickleball: Kitchen (NVZ) Help

More Pickleball Videos and Information

Pickleball – You Make the Call – NVZ Partner Grab Answer

The Scenario:

The Answer according to USAPA Rules:

More Pickleball Videos and Information

Hue wouldn’t believe my Fuji X T-2 Mishap

Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20161101 – The Answer

The Question:

The Answer:

Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20161101 – Q & A

The Question:

Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20160121 – Answer

The Answer according to USAPA Rules Chairperson:

Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20160121

Pickleball: Did you Know…about Nonvolley Zone Faults?