USA Pickleball Rule Changes

5.B Doubles. Both players on a team will serve before a side out is declared, except at the start of each game, when only the starting server will serve before a side out is declared.

6.B.2 Doubles. For doubles play, the score must be called as three numbers: serving team’s score, then receiving team’s score, then the server number. To start each game, the score will be called as “zero – zero – start.”

6.B.2.a is renumbered 6.B.2.b

A new 6.B.2.a is created to read "After side out on the initial possession of a game, the third element of the score will be either "first" or "second".

5.B Doubles. Both players on a team will serve before a side out is declared, except at the start of each game when only the starting server will serve as a second server before a side out is declared.

6.B.2 Doubles. For doubles play, the score must be called as three numbers: serving team’s score, then receiving team’s score, then the server number. To start each game, the score will be called as “zero – zero – two.”

6.B.2.a Score Call by Partner (Doubles). When a server is unable to call the score, the server’s partner may call the score. The same player must call the score throughout the entire game unless the player’s voice becomes impaired.

I spend a lot of time teaching absolute beginners, and scoring is the hardest part of the game for them to learn. It is especially difficult at the start of a game when both sides have low-number scores, and it's easy to confuse the 3rd element of the score (the server), when expressed as cardinal numbers "one" and "two", with the first 2 elements (our side's score and your side's score). This problem is obviated by instead using ordinal numbers "first" and "second", which are obviously not part of the score. The use of "start" for the very first possession of a game, in addition to already being in widespread informal use, serves to emphasize the difference between that possession and all subsequent possessions, in that only the starting server will be allowed to serve until side out.

The use of "first" and "second" is also consistent with the entire rest of the USA Pickleball Official Rule Book, specifically:

• Definitions of “First Server”, “Second Serve (Doubles)”, and “Second Server (Doubles)”

• Also called that in 5.B.2, Designation of First and Second Servers.

• Also called that in 5.B.5 and 5.B.6, Duration of First Server and Duration of Second Server 

• Also what the referee calls them in 17.D.4, Second Server Calls (Doubles), and 17.D.5, Side Out Calls.

This rule change would apply to all score calls in doubles but would be especially useful at preventing confusions early in a game when the score is on the order of 2-1, 3-1, 1-2, 2-2, etc.