"A Glossary of Pickleball Terms"

Pickleball has a vocabulary all its own. A lot of it sounds like inside jokes — dink, Erne, golden pickle — but every term names something real and specific on the court. This glossary defines the words you’ll actually hear, in plain English, one or two sentences each. You don’t need to memorize the list; just keep it handy. If you’re brand new, start with our basic rules summary and our beginner’s guide to rules and scoring, then keep the scoring cheat sheet nearby for your first few games.

A

Ace — A serve the receiver doesn’t touch at all, winning the point outright.

Around-the-Post (ATP) — A shot hit around the outside of the net post rather than over the net. It’s legal as long as the ball lands in bounds, and because it travels outside the post it can pass below net height.

ATP — Short for around-the-post (see above).

B

Backhand — A stroke hit on the side of your body opposite your paddle hand. For a right-handed player, that’s the left side.

Banger — A player who relies mostly on hard, fast drives rather than soft, controlled shots. Often used affectionately, sometimes not.

Baseline — The back boundary line of the court, parallel to the net. You serve from behind it.

C

Carry — A fault where the ball is held or “carried” on the paddle rather than struck cleanly.

Crosscourt — Diagonally across the court, corner to corner. Many dinks and serves are aimed crosscourt because that’s the longest, safest path over the lowest part of the net.

D

Dillball — A ball that is in play: in bounds and having bounced no more than once. A “live” ball.

Dink — A soft shot hit from near the kitchen line that arcs just over the net and lands in the opponent’s kitchen. It’s meant to be unattackable and is the heart of the patient, controlled game.

Double bounce — See two-bounce rule.

Drive — A hard, flat groundstroke hit with pace, usually low over the net.

Drop shot — A soft shot that drops gently into the opponent’s kitchen, giving you time to move up to the net.

E

Erne — An aggressive shot where a player volleys the ball from just outside the sideline, beside or in front of the kitchen, having either jumped over the corner of the kitchen or run around it. Because their feet never land in the Non-Volley Zone, the volley is legal. Named after player Erne Perry.

F

Fault — Any rule violation that ends the rally, such as hitting the ball out of bounds, into the net, or volleying while standing in the kitchen.

Foot fault — A fault caused by foot placement, most commonly stepping on or into the kitchen while volleying, or stepping on the baseline during a serve.

Forehand — A stroke hit on the same side of your body as your paddle hand.

G

Golden pickle — An 11–0 shutout in which the serving team wins every point without the opponent ever getting a chance to serve. A perfect game.

Groundstroke — Any shot hit after the ball has bounced once, as opposed to a volley.

K

Kitchen — The common name for the Non-Volley Zone, the 7-foot area on each side of the net where you may not volley the ball. You can stand in it, but you can’t hit a ball out of the air while any part of you is touching it.

L

Let — In most current rules, a serve that touches the net and still lands in the correct service area is played as normal (no replay). The older “let” replay has largely been removed.

Lob — A high, deep shot hit over an opponent’s head, usually to push them off the kitchen line and back toward the baseline.

N

Non-Volley Zone (NVZ) — The official name for the kitchen (see above).

O

OPA! — A friendly call sometimes shouted after the third shot, signaling that the two-bounce rule has been satisfied and open volleying can begin.

Out — A ball that lands outside the court boundaries. The line itself counts as in.

P

Paddle — The solid, stringless racquet used to hit the ball. At Pickler House, paddles and balls are provided, so you can just show up and play.

Pickleball — Both the sport and the perforated plastic ball it’s played with.

Poach — In doubles, crossing over to hit a ball that would normally be your partner’s, usually to take an aggressive shot at the net.

Put-away — A shot hit hard enough and placed well enough that the opponent has no realistic chance to return it.

R

Rally — The continuous back-and-forth of hitting the ball after the serve, lasting until a point is scored or a fault occurs.

Reset — A soft, controlled shot — often into the kitchen — that takes pace off a fast exchange and buys you time to recover position.

S

Second serve — In doubles, the serve that passes to the second partner after the first server loses a rally. The first team of each game gets only one serve.

Serve — The underhand shot that starts each rally, hit diagonally into the opponent’s service box.

Side out — When the serving team loses its serve and the other team takes over serving.

Stacking — A doubles strategy where partners line up on the same side before the serve or return, then switch positions afterward, so each player can keep their stronger (usually forehand) side toward the middle.

T

Third-shot drop — A soft shot, hit as the third shot of the rally, that lands in the opponent’s kitchen. It lets the serving team move up to the net and is one of the most important shots in the game.

Two-bounce rule — The ball must bounce once on each side — once after the serve and once on the return — before either team is allowed to volley. Also called the double-bounce rule.

V

Volley — Hitting the ball out of the air before it bounces. Legal anywhere except inside the kitchen.

Volley llama — A light-hearted name for an illegal volley made while standing in the kitchen.

That’s most of the vocabulary you’ll hear courtside. You really only need a few of these — serve, dink, kitchen, volley, the two-bounce rule — to start playing well today. The rest will sink in naturally the more you play. When you’re ready to put the words into practice on a private indoor court, book your stay at Pickler House.