RULES
GURU
Q. Hey Guru,
At a recent non-officiated tournament, my opponent
dinked a ball that bounced in the NVZ on my side of the
net. After the ball bounced, I hit it hard enough that my
opponent across the net could not get out of the way
quick enough and the ball hit his arm. After the ball hit
him, my momentum caused me to lose my balance. I was
eventually able to steady myself by grabbing the net post.
My opponent argued that I committed a fault because I
touched the “net system.” Was my opponent correct?
A. No. As soon as the ball hit your opponent, it’s a fault
on your opponent and the ball is considered dead (rule
7.H). Once the ball is declared dead, the rally is over, and
you may touch the net post without penalty. If, however,
you touched the net post before the ball was otherwise
dead then, yes, your opponent would have been correct
(rule 11.K). But in this case his fault (being hit with the
ball) happened before you touched the net post.
Q. Hey Guru,
Can the partner of the receiver or the partner of the
server delay the referee from calling the score?
A. Prior to January 15 of this year, a partner of the server
or receiver could not delay the calling of the score except
for some particular circumstances. This changed with
the revised wording of Rule 4.C. Readiness. Any player
may indicate “not ready” prior to the start of the score
being called. See the sidebar for more explanation of this
rule change.
Q. Hey Guru,
Who writes the rules for pickleball and how do they get
changed?
A. The USAPA currently has a Rules Committee
comprised of certified referee volunteers, USAPA staff
and a professional player. During the year, the USAPA
receives many suggestions and recommendations from
players for changes to the rules. The Rules Committee
considers and reviews almost all of these suggestions.
Then, the committee proposes changes and submits
them to the USAPA Board of Directors for approval,
usually near the end of a calendar year.
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By Bob Unetich
USAPA-CERTIFIED REFEREE
We’d Like to Hear From You!
Send your questions to [email protected].
The 2020 USAPA Rules are Out!
A revision of both the Rule Book and the Referee
Handbook has been completed.
Here are a few remarks made by Mark Peifer,
Director of Officiating, late in 2019 about the changes:
“There are currently over 50 rule book revisions
under consideration. Most changes are small but
a large percentage of them resulted from debates
or questions… We attempted to ‘fix’ a lot of the
confusing wording that caused those questions and/
or debates. A key emphasis was eliminating ambiguity
and minimizing the potential for conflict between
players and referees. Furthermore, we attempted to
remove some ‘judgment’ rules and make them more
deterministic.”
One of the most notable changes consistent with that
goal was the elimination of hydration breaks. Players
and referees disliked the ambiguity surrounding
when they were permitted, how long they could be,
and whether or not the players could even talk to one
another during the hydration breaks. Did you know
that the time in between the end of one rally and the
next serve is between 9 and 25 seconds? When that was
realized, it didn’t make sense to have hydration breaks
as a pseudo time-out. There’s plenty of time in between
rallies for toweling off and getting a sip of water.
One other change is that the new rules allow any of
the players to give the “not ready” signal, not just the
correct server or receiver. But, once the referee starts
to call the score, any not-ready signals will be ignored
unless there is a hinder.
If you plan to play in a tournament during 2020, it
helps to know what will be done differently by referees
this year, so reading the new rule book is highly
recommended.
The USAPA now has a tiered referee rating system in
place and you should expect any referee with USAPA
credentials to be familiar with the rule changes. You
can read more about USAPA Tiered Referee Ratings
and the requirements to become a rated referee in an
upcoming article. You are welcome, of course, to send
your rule change questions to the Rules Guru! •