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You are here: Home / Rules / Hat Falls Off and Into the Pickleball Kitchen — You Make the Call!

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Hat Falls Off and Into the Pickleball Kitchen — You Make the Call!

You Make the Call!

Here’s the Scenario:

You’re wearing a hat to play pickleball. The hat falls into your own Non-Volley Zone while you execute a groundstroke from behind the Non-Volley Line. What’s the call?


To keep the sun out of my eyes, I typically wear a visor when playing pickleball outdoors.  Wearing a visor or hat can lead to “interesting” rule interpretations on the pickleball court — particularly for those not as familiar with the official rulebook. Some interpretations may be correct. Others are likely completely wrong. Consider this:  Your opponent hits a drop shot and you scamper forward, making contact with the ball just shy of the non-volley line — barely reaching it before it bounces twice. During your scamper, however, your momentum carries you into the Non-Volley Zone — at which point your hat falls off because of your blazing speed. With your hat “innocently” resting in your own Non-Volley Zone, you continue playing out the rally, and, in fact, win the rally.

You Won the Rally… Or Did You?

As you can see from Rule #11.H below from the 2019 International Federation of Pickleball Official Tournament Rulebook, you did, indeed, win the rally — and if you or your partner was serving — the point. Some of you may be arguing, “Wait, the hat landed in your own Non-Volley Zone… therefore, the rally should have been won by your opponent.”  In this case, the hat landing in the Non-Volley Zone was not a result of a volley.  The ball had already bounced once before it was struck.  The hat did, however, become part of the court — and if your opponent had hit the ball and the ball landed on the hat, you would have had to play the ball off the hat.

We use the hat as an example for this rule.  But it applies to anything the player is wearing or carrying — even your paddle. Shown below is the official ruling so you can make the proper pickleball rule interpretation next time this happens.

International Federation of Pickleball — Official Tournament Rulebook

Rule #11.H:

Items on the Court.  If any item a player is/was wearing or carrying lands on his/her side of the court, unless the item lands in the non-volley zone as a result of a volley, the ball remains in play even if it hits the item.

Need More Pickleball Rules Clarifications & Interpretations?

Please reference our pickleball rules page and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter so that you receive additional pickleball rules clarifications and interpretations for many of the common — and not-so-common — scenarios that happen on the pickleball courts. By subscribing to the newsletter you will also receive pickleball tips, strategies, tournament recaps, and more.

>>READ NEXT: Pickleball Kitchen Rules FAQs – Volleys, Groundies and the Non-Volley Zone<<

Article by PickleballMAX / Filed Under: Rules 2 Comments

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About PickleballMAX

Tennis player turned pickleball player. I blog about how one maximizes their picklebility. Picklebility is simply defined as an embodiment of one's passion, ability and addiction to #pickleball. See you on the courts!

Comments

  1. lowell h barkan says

    January 8, 2022 at 4:27 pm

    when you hit a volley and your opponent misses the ball and your momentum carries you in the kitchen when is the ball considered dead and the play over?

    Reply
    • PickleballMAX says

      February 4, 2022 at 9:40 am

      There is NO time-limit to the momentum rule. Hope that helps.

      Reply

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