And the Lingo Every Player Should Know
By David Huntley, PPR Certified Teaching Professional
Pickleball was invented in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island in Washington by three fathers who wanted to play badminton. They couldn’t find a shuttlecock; however, they did have a wiffle ball.
They lowered the net to waist height and first used ping pong paddles, then later cut some slightly larger paddles out of wood. Then the three men — Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum — sat down and came up with the rules for what would become known as pickleball.
The idea of the no-volley zone (kitchen) was invented because Bell was much taller than the other two, and the kitchen area was an equalizer. In addition, the two-bounce rule was created to prevent serving and volleying, and side-out scoring came from how volleyball was played at the time. The men borrowed rules from several other sports, which made the game about strategy rather than all about power, allowing families to enjoy the game together. Today, more powerful paddles and balls make power much more of a factor than in the 1960’s.
HOW PICKLEBALL GOT ITS NAME
There are two interesting stories of how pickleball got its name: The most popular one is that it was named after the Pritchards’ dog, Pickles, who liked to chase the stray balls. Mrs. Pritchard, however, says they got the dog after the game was invented, and the dog was named after the game.
The other story states that because pickleball was made up of rules from other sports, they named it after a crew “pickle boat,” which is the name for a boat filled with the leftover rowers from different teams.
Pickleball is now the official sport of the state of Washington and was signed into law in 2022 by the governor on the original pickleball court on Bainbridge Island. Today, pickleball is played in over 60 countries and will likely be an Olympic sport in the next eight years.
TERMS THAT CHANGED FROM TENNIS
As a tennis player myself, here are the three things that I have a difficult time remembering to change the words for:
- No Man’s Land — In pickleball, this is known as the transitional zone.
- Racquets — Tennis has racquets. Pickleball has paddles.
- Deuce Side / Ad Side — In tennis, the right side of the court is called the deuce side, and the left side is called the ad side. In pickleball, we call the right side the even side, and the left side is called the odd side, because of the scoring.
Enjoy this great game, share the facts, and thanks for reading!
PICKLEBALL LINGO
Here are the definitions of typical pickleball terms you may have heard on the court:
Pickle — Winning a game 11-0
Golden Pickle — Winning a game 11-0 when the opponent never gets to serve
Nasty Nelson — Hitting the net player with your serve to win the point
Body Bag — Hitting your opponent’s body with a speed-up or a smash
ATP — Hitting a wide ball around the post
Ernie — Jumping over the kitchen, landing outside the court, to hit a ball
Kitchen — No Volley Zone. Fun fact: that word was chosen because in shuffleboard, the name for the 10-point-off penalty zone is known as the kitchen.
Mystery Meat — Describes players that you have never met before
Dink — A ball that lands in the kitchen
Shake and Bake — One partner drives the ball at the opponent, hoping for a pop-up, and the other partner rushes the net and puts the ball away with an overhead smash or aggressive volley
Smash — Hitting an overhead
Stacking — An advanced technique to allow partners to play their stronger or favorite side of the court for every point
Cucumbers — Brand-new pickleball players
Much of the other lingo is the same as tennis, such as ace, let, poaching, serve, backhands, forehands, winners, unforced errors, volleys, faults, etc.
