Pickleball: The Underhand Serve Crosscourt

A pickleball serve progression: contact below the waist, with an upward arm swing, into the diagonal box. It ends with a self-refereed zone serving contest.

How to play

1. Explain and demo: feet behind the baseline, contact below the waist and the ball landing in the diagonal box beyond the non-volley zone (4 min).
2. Serve without a net against the wall or to a partner six meters away, focusing on a low-to-high arm path (5 min).
3. On four courts: groups of three serve ten balls crosscourt from the right and ten from the left; the third player shags (8 min).
4. Zone challenge marked with tape: deep in the box three points, middle two, near the kitchen one (6 min).
5. Each trio talks about what breaks down most: feet, contact height or direction (2 min).

Rules

• Only the server stands on the line; the others wait behind.
• The receiver stays out of the box during serves and shags from the side.
• Each trio calls its own serves and keeps an honest score.

Variations

Adaptations

• Students with visual impairments: a partner claps from the target box to guide the serve.
• Wheelchair users: serve from the chair with the same below-the-waist rule; the court can be shorter.
• Sore shoulder: the underhand motion is easy on the shoulder, but cut down the number of serves.

Learning goals

• Perform a legal pickleball serve.
• Direct the serve crosscourt.
• Call their own serves honestly.

Equipment for a class of 25

• pickleball paddles: 15
• pickleballs: 30
• portable nets: 4
• cones: 16
• masking tape: 2

Teacher tip

The kitchen is the non-volley zone by the net; mark it with tape if your court lacks it. No pickleball paddles? Big beach paddles and plastic wiffle-style balls do the job.

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