Keeping score in pickleball can be tough, especially if you tend to be involved in games with a lot of long rallies. After hitting the ball back and forth a dozen times, and swapping places with your partner on the court, it may take a bit of thought to figure out the score. Fortunately, there’s a fairly easy way for you to figure out the score in the middle of a game. All you have to do is remember where you were standing when the game began.
Who Served First?
When you start a doubles match you’ll either be standing on the left side or right side of the court. The player standing on the right side will serve first for their team. The player standing on the left side will serve second. This will be important for keeping track of the score during the game.
Standing on the Right
If you start out on the right (meaning that when you’re standing on the court and looking at the net, your partner is to your left), you will serve first. When you serve first, your team will always have an even number of points when you’re standing on the right side of the court. When you’re standing on the left side of the court during the game, your team will always have an odd number of points.
Standing on the Left
If you start out on the left (meaning that when you’re standing on the court and looking at the net, your partner is to your right), you will serve second. In order to keep track of the score, you’ll simply have to remember that your partner served first. The same rules apply: when your partner is on the right side of the court you’ll have an even score, and when they’re on the left you’ll have an odd score.
Here’s the bottom line: remember which side of the court you’re on when your game begins. It can also be helpful to remember where your opponents start the game. Whenever the person who served first is on the right, the score will be even. Whenever the person who served first is on the left, the score will be odd. If you and the other team can’t agree on the score, just think back to where you started. Now you’ll know whether the score should be even or odd, which can help clear up a dispute.
Thanks for the simplified explanation on how to keep score.
I was aware that there was a way to do it but thought it was much more difficult.
We are often wondering what the score is after a long rally (old age setting in?).
Thanks for clarifying !
http://pickleballhelp.com/3-secrets-top-pickleball-players-know-figuring-score-side-youre-serving/
To figure out whether you are first or second server in a match…good read. Of course it depends on knowing the score when you get sideout…which can be challenging for us geezers.
Who are you calling geezers? If you’ve already answered that, I don’t recall and offer my apology. I thought this was an essay on SCORE. (senior core of retired executives)