With pickleball increasing in popularity, the variety of talent is also rising and I don’t just mean on the court. Folks with different backgrounds are becoming involved in the sport. Recently, I joined a Facebook group focused on Pro Pickleball Stats (to be exact, that is the name of the group).
People in this group are reporting game statistics for pro matches - usually the PPA gold medal matches, to be specific. The tracked stats are usually how many third shot drives versus third shot drops each player is executing; how many clean winners, and how many shots per rally - plus the average amount of shots per rally.
This got me thinking about statistics that everyone can track: faults. How many faults are you making in a game and what type of faults are they? Here, I’m identifying what I think are the more common faults one can commit.
By self-identifying this and thinking consciously about these faults during your practice and drilling time, you will actually be able to decrease the amount that you commit during a match.
These faults are not in any necessary order, they are the faults that I just see over and over again. I’m sure there are some other ones that I’ve not listed here and I think the ways in which players commit some of these faults depend on their skill level. You’ll see what I mean further down the article.
Forgetting About the Two Bounce Rule
Hitting the third shot as a volley and forgetting the two-bounce rule is extremely common amongst beginner players and players transitioning from tennis - where the serve and volley concept is popular.
Why it’s different for a beginner vs advanced player: it’s pretty simple, it’s just the familiarity of the game. An advanced player with a tennis background might forget the two-bounce rule at the very beginning of their journey but this rule quickly sets in for players at the 4.5+ levels.
Hitting out Balls
There’s this general rule in pickleball “if it’s shoulder high, let it fly”. The meaning behind this is simple, if the ball is coming at you around the same height as your shoulders it’s more than likely heading out of bounds, especially if the ball is still travelling up as it passes by you. That said, I really want to clarify that this isn’t applicable with every high ball.
1. It depends where you’re standing on the court; if the ball is coming towards you on an angle (ie. cross court) at this height then it will likely go out of bounds at the sideline.
2. However, if you’re standing square to the net and the ball is coming right at you, but it’s tapering due to topspin, there's a good chance it will drop inside the court.
3. If you’re playing with the wind then your opponent is playing against the wind and the majority of hard-struck balls will probably land inside the court.
Why it’s different for a beginner vs advanced player: beginners have much less court awareness, they’ve spent less time on the court and have less feel for its width and depth, therefore they are going to hit those “out” balls because they cannot tell if it’s going to stay in or fly out. An advanced player, however, might hit fewer “out” balls given their higher court IQ, but they are playing at a faster pace and likely hit some of these sailing balls simply because they can’t get out of the way.
.jpg?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=Ball%20on%20court%20stock%20pic%20(No%20-%202011279028).jpg)
Foot Faults
Foot faults at the non-volley line are hard to catch and often go undetected in the middle of a rally and because of that, they are probably occurring way more often than you would think.
Unlike line calls, anyone can call a foot fault. It’s definitely easier for a player to call foot faults on the other team rather than on yourself, but if you see you or your teammate in the zone or on the line, be a good sportsperson and make the call.
Also keep in mind that if, at the end of a rally you think that the opponent's shot came back at you quicker than it should have, then take a quick glance at their feet because oftentimes it means they’re a little closer to the ball then they should be…
Why it’s different for a beginner vs advanced player: beginners forget about the non-volley rule and often crash the zone thinking they’ve got a juicy put away on their paddle. Advanced players are more inclined to commit a fault due to the pace of the rally being faster and their movements are overall much quicker.
As well, many advanced players attempt the erne shot (jumping over the non-volley zone to hit a volley) which increases the chances of committing a foot fault. Pro player Lee Whitwell is famous for her erne execution and although she hits many successful ernes she also has the term “Whitwell Walkway” named after her for a reason.
Service Faults
These faults really just mean someone is serving higher than waist height, the tip of their paddle is higher than their wrist, or the server is serving from the incorrect side.
Another common service fault is standing outside of the court or crossing over into your partner’s side of the court. Think of the center line and sideline both having invisible walls while you’re serving, you simply cannot cross through these “walls”.
Keep in mind that a serve that carries out of bounds or clips the net and lands in the opponent’s kitchen is not considered a fault, so to speak, they are actually unforced errors.
Why it’s different for a beginner vs advanced player: players new to the game have a lot to think about and the finer details of how to serve legally can slip off the priority list. Players are also not familiar with the feeling of a proper serve.
Whether you’re just starting out in pickleball or a frequent player it’s probably not a bad thing to fire through the up-to-date rulebook where the full list of faults is provided.
This article was taken from our 'Control the Kitchen' Newsletter, if you're interested in receiving more content like this, please feel free to sign up using the subscribe section located at the bottom left of this page (or underneath the article if you're on mobile), thanks!
