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RULES GURU
By Christine Barksdale USAPA Managing Director of Athletic Competition
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We’ d Like to Hear From You!
Submit your questions to editors @ thepickleballmag. com.
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Q: Dear Guru,
We were playing in a tournament and the referee called the score. Before I could serve the ball, the receiving team called timeout. Isn’ t this illegal? The receiving team was in the wrong positions and we would have won the point if they had not called timeout.
“ time out”
A: No. Calling timeout prior to the start of the serve motion is allowed. USAPA Rule 4. D. 2 states,“ Any player may call a time-out once the score has been called but NOT after the service motion has begun. See 4. A. 2.”
Q: Dear Guru,
We have a local player who, when serving, stands in the correct serving area but is so close to the centerline that he can reach his partner’ s side of the court and make contact with the ball on his partner’ s side of the center line. Is this illegal?
A: No, the court is two-dimensional. Rule 4. A. 3 states,“ At the beginning of the serve, both feet must be behind the baseline. At the time the ball is struck, at least one foot must be on the playing surface or ground behind the baseline, and the server’ s feet may not touch the playing surface in an area outside the confines of the serving area.” This means that as long as a player’ s feet are in the correct position at contact, there is nothing illegal in reaching over the centerline or contacting the ball forward of the baseline.
Q: Dear Guru,
During a tournament, when our opponent served the ball, his partner stood in the middle of the court. Don’ t both serving partners need to be behind the baseline when a player serves?
A: No, this is completely within the rules. USAPA Rule 4. B. 7 states,“ Partner Positions. In doubles, there is no restriction on the position of the partners of the server and receiver, as long as they are on their respective team’ s side of the net. They can be positioned on or off the court.”
UPDATE- A new USAPA rulebook came out January 2018 which addresses how foot fault calls are handled in recreational play. It still stands that either team can call a foot fault, however, a new clarification has been added. In Section 9i it states,“ For non-officiated play, non-volley-zone faults may be called by any player on either team. Benefit of the doubt goes to the player who makes the call.” Therefore, if there is an argument about a foot fault call in recreational play, the team that calls the foot fault will be given priority. You can find the USAPA 2018 Official Tournament Rulebook here: https:// www. usapa. org / ifp-official-rules / •
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2018 | MAGAZINE 23