Pickleball, explained

Pickleball glossary

New to pickleball, or just want to sound like you have played for years? Here are the terms you will hear on the court — the kitchen, the third shot drop, dinking, the soft game — each explained in plain words. Master the ideas behind them, one read a day, in the Pickleballer app.

Pickleball

A paddle sport played on a court the size of a badminton court, with a perforated plastic ball and solid paddles. It mixes ideas from tennis, table tennis, and badminton, and is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world because it is easy to learn and friendly to every age.

The kitchen (non-volley zone)

The seven-foot zone on each side of the net where you are not allowed to hit the ball out of the air. You can stand in it, but volleying while touching it is a fault. Most points are won or lost right at the edge of the kitchen.

Kitchen line (non-volley-zone line)

The line seven feet from the net that marks the edge of the kitchen. Getting to this line — and controlling the point from there — is the single biggest positioning goal in pickleball.

Dink

A soft shot hit from near the kitchen that arcs just over the net and drops into the opponent's kitchen. It is the heart of the soft game: patient, hard to attack, and used to force an error or a pop-up you can put away.

Third shot drop

The third shot of a rally (after the serve and the return), softly dropped into the opponent's kitchen so your team can move up to the net. It is the most important strategic shot in pickleball, and the hardest to learn.

Reset

A soft, controlled shot that takes the pace off a hard ball and drops it into the kitchen, neutralizing an attack and buying time to get to the net. Staying calm and resetting is how you beat a hard hitter. (It is also what Pickleballer's earned in-app currency is named after.)

The soft game

Playing with control and placement — dinks, drops, and resets — instead of just swinging hard. In recreational pickleball, controlled play usually beats power, and learning the soft game is the fastest way to win more games. It is exactly what Pickleballer trains.

Banger

A player who hits the ball as hard as they can on almost every shot — all power, little patience. Beating a banger is not about out-hitting them; it is about staying calm, resetting their pace, and waiting for the smart ball.

Drive

A hard, flat groundstroke hit with pace. A useful tool at the right moment — and the shot bangers overuse.

Lob

A high, deep shot hit over your opponents to push them back off the kitchen line and reset the point.

Volley

Hitting the ball out of the air before it bounces. Legal everywhere on the court except inside the kitchen.

Groundstroke

Hitting the ball after it has bounced once.

Two-bounce rule

The ball must bounce once on each side — after the serve and after the return — before either team is allowed to volley. This rule is the reason the third shot drop exists.

Erne

An advanced shot where a player jumps around or steps outside the kitchen, near the sideline, to volley a ball close to the net without faulting. Named after player Erne Perry.

ATP (around the post)

A shot hit around the outside of the net post — not over the net — when the ball is pulled wide enough. It is completely legal, and one of the most spectacular shots in the game.

Stacking

A positioning strategy where partners line up on the same side before the serve, so each player can keep their stronger (usually forehand) side in the middle of the court.

Poach

When the player at the net crosses over to take a ball that would normally be their partner's, to put away an attackable shot.

DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating)

A widely used skill rating based on real match results. Pickleballer tracks your DUPR beside your Soft Game rating — never folded into it — so your decision quality and your win/loss rating stay separate.

Soft Game rating

Pickleballer's own rating for the quality of your decisions — how often you choose the smart, high-percentage shot — measured by the Daily Pickle and kept independent of DUPR.