The ball is in the air. Your partner yells “out.” The ball lands in. However, your opponents stop playing because of the “out” call. What’s the call?

This scenario plays out seemingly all the time on the pickleball courts. Luckily it is explicitly addressed in the pickleball rulebook where it states that calling the ball out before it bounces is considered partner communication. Therefore, the ball can still be played if it lands in.

Yelling “out” after the ball bounces, on the other hand, is considered a line call that ends the rally.  In this case, the “out” call was made before it bounced. Therefore, the rally continues. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

What Should Be the Height of the Net?

We always hear people complain when their excellent return hits the net and does not make it over, “the net is too high.” Or adversely, you hit the ball, it hits the top of the net and always drops on the other side. Your opponent complains, “the net must be too low.” So what is the correct height?

Pickleball nets should have a height of 36 inches at the sidelines and 34 inches high in the middle. The top of the net should be covered with a 2 inch wide binding over the net cord. The net posts should be at least one foot outside of the sidelines.