Pickleball Strategy: Keep the score straight!

How many times have we been playing a pickleball game and an opponent shouts out the score, and there is lots of confusion? I know it has happened many times to me. Many times when there is confusion about the score, the score is off by one. If you knew whether the score should be odd or even, that would help you to know the correct score. There is a way to always know whether a team’s score should be odd or even.

At the start of each game, make a mental note of the player that served first for each side. If the rotation is done correctly, a team’s score will always be even when that player is on the right and odd when that player is on the left. As you call the score, use the player position as a double check on whether you have the correct score. If every player would use this technique, it would put an end to those long discussions about whether a team’s score should be 3 or 4.

As an aid to help everyone to keep the score straight, call the score before every serve, including the server number. It helps to call the score well before the serve to give everyone a chance to make a correction. It is very distracting to call the score while you are in your serving motion, especially if the score is wrong.