RACKETBALL is played on a standard squash court (32 feet x 21 feet)

RACKETBALL uses RACKETBALL rackets and balls (see equipment).

The Rules of RACKETBALL are very straightforward making RACKETBALL suitable for all ages and abilities.

1. Front Wall
2. Side wall
3. Top out of court line
4. Service line (not used in Racketball)
5. Service box
6. Centre court line
7. The “tin” - bottom out of court line
8. Short or half court line

Two players (minimum), each with a racket, take it in turns to hit the ball onto the front wall between the bottom section (the tin) and the top (out of court line) of the court. Apart from service, the ball may hit the other walls prior to hitting the front wall as long as it does not go out of the court, hit an opponent, hit the clothing of the striker or the opponent, hit the tin, or bounce on the floor first. The ball is also not allowed to bounce on the floor twice between hitting the front wall and the other player returning it.

Serve

On each first serve, the server can decide which service box to start in, after which they must serve from alternate boxes until they lose service. With at least one foot in the service box the server must:

• Bounce the ball off the ground (without hitting the side wall)
• Hit the ball directly against the front wall – between the tin and out of court line
• Aim to land the ball in the back ¼ court opposite to their server’s box (the returning player can ‘volley’ prior to it hitting the floor)
• Not hit the ball directly off the front, then the back wall without a bounce in between.

Score

Matches should last 3 or 5 games – as decided by the competition organiser or by players before they start – and should be played as ‘Point A Rally’ (PAR) to 11. This means that you score a point every time you win the rally, whether you served or not. The first person to get to 11 points wins the game, unless a match reaches 10-10 whereby a player must win by 2 clear points. The first player to win 2 games (in a 3 game match) and 3 games (in a 5 game match) is the winner.

Play Safely - Let

Safety is a key element of all sports, so the use of a ‘let’ should be introduced at the start of learning to play. Basically, if there is any danger in playing a shot – e.g. you would hit your opponent with your racket, or you need to barge them out the way to get to the ball – then don’t attempt to play your shot. Stop and call “Let”, then play the point again. This is the basic rule of a ‘let’, more detail should be introduced – i.e. who was at fault, is it a ‘let’ or a ‘stroke’ – as players get more skilled at playing the game of RACKETBALL.