Court Etiquette

Sometimes we all play on different courts for a variety of reasons. Maybe there are fewer people on the courts or you want to work on different skills or to see if you can participate at a higher skill/intensity level. It is a disservice to your fellow players to continually play at a level that is inappropriate, both up and down. Occasionally, a player may play at the incorrect level and will instinctively know and self adjust, but sometimes they need to be directed, in a kind way, to an appropriate level.

If you find you are on a court where your skill/intensity level does not match the others, please remember we are all there for fun. For example, when a more skilled, higher intensity player finds themselves on the court with less skilled players, it could be recognized as a teaching moment. It really does no good for a beginner to be slammed nor a good player to take advantage of the less skilled players who may serve up a shot that is too high. A situation like this would be a good time for a better player to work on their short game or shot positioning and teach the lesser skilled player their advantages.

In a similar fashion, if you are playing a team with a weaker player, hitting primarily to that weaker player is not going to improve your game. You will get better by hitting to the stronger player. It should be noted that if you are playing in a tournament you would pick on the weaker of the players, but unless you are practicing for a tournament, please be considerate of all players.

As we all know, pickleball should first and foremost be fun so let’s all help each other be better players and teachers.

Injuries are something we hope will not happen to any of our players, but if they do, please be considerate of the person injured by stopping play on all surrounding courts so that all can focus on getting the injured person the help they need. This may mean that the court they are on or near are unavailable for play.