Submitted by Mark Friedenberg, USAPA Board Member

There always seem to be questions, arguments and misunderstandings about when a player can and cannot step into the non-volley zone, more affectionately referred to as "the kitchen".  The purpose of this article is to review the non-volley zone rules and provide (hopefully) more clarification to those rules - Section 9 A-F (revised 11/01/07) of the USAPA Official Rulebook.  Clarifications of each paragraph are in italics following the statement of the rule.

9.A. The non-volley zone is the area of the court bounded by the two sidelines, the non-volley line and the net. The non-volley line and the sidelines are included in the non-volley zone.

There is no extension of the non-volley line outside of the sidelines.  Also note that the non-volley zone is part of the court surface, not an imaginary extension of the lines or area above the non-volley zone (as is the case in racquetball). Therefore, a player may reach across the non-volley line to return a volley without incurring a fault, as long as rule 9.B is not violated. Please view Figure 1 showing the complete pickleball court.  Notice that the red arrows display the area outside of the non-volley zone.  This means that you may go outside of the non-volley zone along the sideline and hit the ball.

9.B. A fault will be declared if, in the act of volleying the ball, a player or anything the player is wearing or carrying touches the non-volley zone or touches any non-volley line.  For example, a fault will be declared if, in the act of volleying the ball, one of the player's feet touches a non-volley line.

This rule applies not only to the player's feet.  If a player's hat, paddle, jewelry, clothing, glasses, towel, etc., touches or falls into the non-volley zone while volleying the ball, it is also a fault.  Another example of a fault would be placing the paddle into the non-volley zone to use as a crutch to keep from falling into the non-volley zone.

9.C. A fault will be declared if, in the act of volleying the ball, a player's momentum causes the player or anything the player is wearing or carrying to touch the non-volley zone or touch any non-volley line. It is a fault if the player's momentum causes the player to touch anything that is touching the non-volley zone including the player's partner. It is a fault even if the ball is declared dead before the player touches the non-volley zone.

If a player volleys the ball but then does not gain control of their momentum to keep from falling into the non-volley zone as the rally continues, the moment that this player falls into the non-volley zone or touches a non-volley line, a fault has occurred, no matter how many back and forth rallies have been played.  Play must stop.  If a player's partner is positioned outside of the non-volley zone and is not touching one of the non-volley lines, that person may pull his partner back to prevent the player from falling into the non-volley zone or touching a non-volley line.  However, if the player's partner enters the non-volley zone or touches one of the non-volley lines in the act of pushing or pulling his partner to keep him from falling into the non-volley zone or touching one of the non-volley lines, it is a fault.

9.D. A fault will be declared if the player violates the intent of the non-volley zone rule. All volleys must be initiated outside of the non-volley zone. A maneuver such as standing inside the non-volley zone, jumping up to hit a volley, and then landing outside the non-volley zone is prohibited. If a player is inside the non-volley zone for any reason, that player cannot volley the return until both feet are on the court surface outside the non-volley zone.

Basically this rule targets the established position of the feet before contacting the ball.

9.E. A player may step on the non-volley zone line or enter the non-volley zone at any time except when that player is volleying the ball. There is no violation if your partner returns the ball while you are standing in the non-volley zone. A player may enter the non-volley zone before or after returning any ball that bounces.

No further clarification appears necessary.

9.F. A player may stay inside the non-volley zone to return balls that bounce. That is, there is no violation if a player does not exit the non-volley zone after hitting a ball that bounces.

No further clarification appears necessary.