carefully if you play in tournaments with referees .
Player Position Questions ( Rules 4 . B . 8 and 4 . B . 9 )
A welcome change , in my view , is the return of the permission for a referee to answer player questions about position . A referee can now answer any player ’ s position question . Of course , it remains a fault if you serve or receive serve while being in the wrong position , so start asking the ref this question !
Wrong Score Called Procedure ( 4 . K )
The new rules extend the time any player can stop play when the incorrect score has been called by a referee . The new limit is up to the time the third shot is hit . This provides players a little more time to react to an incorrectly called score .
Penalties
Referees can now assign ( and document ) a “ Verbal Warning ” for profanity ( See 3A . 46 ). This is in addition to being able to assign a Technical Warning or Technical Foul and I think this is a worthwhile addition to the ref toolbox . Note that there can only be one Verbal Warning for profanity in a match . After that , the penalties for excessive profanity increase .
Technicals
Before this year , a team that receives a Technical Warning ( TW ) plus a Technical Foul ( TF ) forfeited the match . In addition , a Technical Foul awarded the opposing team one point . That has changed . A TW and a TF given to a team now warrants , according to Rule 13 . H . 1 . a , a forfeit of that game only ( which may or may not end a match ). If another TW or TF is later assigned to that team , the match is then forfeited ( Rule 13 . I . 1 . b ).
In addition , a TF , under Rule 13 . G . 2 , now deducts a point from the offending team ’ s score ( unless they have zero ) instead of awarding a point to the opponents . TFs are rare , but a team needs to be aware of the impact a TF has on the score .
Changing Ends Becomes a Time- Out ( Rule 5 . B . 6 )
While players have been able to take up to 60 seconds to complete a change of ends , coaching during this period was not permitted , since this was not deemed a time-out . Now players can receive coaching and this period is a time-out . This avoids the problem of determining whether a player talking to a spectator was receiving coaching and therefore deserved a Technical Warning .
Other Changes
There are more changes that will impact teams in certain situations . For instance , if the Head Ref is called to a court to resolve a dispute about a judgment call or to make a decision on how a rule is interpreted by the referee , it now costs the team calling for the Head Ref a timeout and a TW , if the decision goes against them ( See 13 . J ). Previously this penalty applied only to rules interpretations , not judgment calls .
Another change allows a referee to remove a line judge ( 13 . K ). Starting this year , a referee can call a medical time-out , even if a previously requested medical time-out has already been taken by a player ( 10 . B . 3 . c ).
There are also some new terms that have been defined , such as “ retirement ” in place of “ forfeit ” ( See 12 . F ) if a team decides to stop a match . Poor behavior can now lead to an “ Ejection ” ( Rule 3 . A . 9 ), removing the player from further play , and behavior can even “ Expel ” ( 3 . A . 10 ) a player from the venue for the rest of a tournament .
There are now more scoring options ( such as games to 15 , win by 1 ) available for sanctioned tournaments , as you can see in Rule 12 . B , which may be of help to tournament directors seeking to shorten the time needed to play a particular bracket .
You can find more about all of the above changes in the new USA Pickleball documents , available on USAPickleball . org . •
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2021 | MAGAZINE 23