| Paddleball | |||||
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Paddleball is generally played on a court with a single wall.
The court is 20 feet wide and 34 feet deep. The wall is 16 feet high and should have a fence about 4 feet high on its top. The short line is 16 feet from the wall. This leaves 18 feet between the short line and the long line; served balls must land in this zone. The service line is 9 feet behind the short line; the server must stand between those two lines. The service line is marked with lines at least 6 inches long. The sidelines are continued about 3 feet behind the long line to help determine if a served ball is long (a fault) or out (a side-out.) There would be another pair on the other side of this wall. The fence at the top of the wall helps keep balls from being lost. The game is usually played singles or doubles. Singles play is described below. There is a short line about halfway from the wall to the baseline, and the sidelines are extended a few feet past the baseline. The service line is indicated by ticks about halfway between the short line and the baseline, and indicates where the serving player must stand when serving. The sidelines continue to the top of the wall. The ball The ball resembles a handball. It has a rubber surface, and is harder and smaller than a tennis ball. The paddles The paddles are similar in size to a raquetball paddles (short-handled, and intermediate in size between ping pong paddles and tennis rackets.) They are made of wood (typically plywood) and perforated. There is no webbing. The edge is protected with aluminum or tape or both. The handle is usually wrapped in leather, and should be provided with a lanyard to go around the player's wrist, which prevents the paddle from flying if the player loses his grip. The service The server must drop the ball to the ground, and hit it when it bounces. The ball must strike the wall, and hit the court surface between the short line and long line, and within the sidelines. If the ball lands short or long, the server gets one additional attempt. If the ball lands wide, or strikes the wall wide, the server is out. The play Each player in turn may hit the ball on-the-fly or after one bounce. The ball must hit the wall, within the sidelines, on the fly, and return, hitting the court surface between the sidelines and before the baseline. Failure to do so results in a point, if the other player served, or a side-out if the server fails. Winning Play is usually to 11, 15 or 21 points, with two points required to win. A score of 9 to nothing, for a 21-point game, might be considered a shutout -- an automatic win. |