YLD
President’ s
COLUMN
Anyone for Pickleball?
( Wouldn’ t that be nice?)
a sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong, yet requires approximately 70 % less athletic ability than any of them.
Pickleball 101 by Tyler Stall, Esq. Hutton, Dominko & Stall, PLLC
Let’ s address the elephant on the court: Pickleball. Yes, that sport with the funny name that retirees and your relatives will not stop talking about. The same activity that has somehow managed to become both the fastest-growing sport in America and the most relentlessly mocked by anyone under 40.
But here in Sarasota, the SCBA has thrown not one, but two wellattended pickleball events in the past few years. I admit it. I was at both. There is proof in the Docket. And you can bet it will happen again.
And yes, I can hear the groans from here:“ Pickleball? Seriously? Couldn’ t we do axe throwing or escape rooms like‘ normal’ people?”
But here’ s the thing. Our previous two pickleball events have been well-attended functions, drawing participants from all practice areas and experience levels. There’ s something undeniably appealing about
For the uninitiated( or those who have successfully avoided the siren’ s call of the pickleball court), here’ s a brief overview of pickleball:
The Court: Imagine a tennis court that shrank in the wash— roughly one-fourth the size. This means significantly less running, which is particularly advantageous after a long day of billable hours or court appearances.
The Equipment: Players use solid paddles( larger than ping-pong paddles but smaller than tennis racquets) to hit a perforated plastic ball( think wiffle ball) over a net that’ s hung slightly lower than a tennis net.
Scoring: Games are typically played to 11 points( win by 2), and only the serving team can score points( like volleyball). Teams alternate serves between partners when playing doubles, which is the most common format. The scoring is complex at first and sounds like people just shouting random numbers for a while but makes sense over time.
The“ Kitchen”: No, this isn’ t where we’ ll serve refreshments. The“ non-volley zone”( officially) or“ kitchen”( colloquially) is a 7-foot area on each side of the net where players cannot volley the ball( hit it out
10 | THE DOCKET- APRIL 2025