More often than one would think, pickleball scores can get forgotten by everyone playing during the game. Whether you’re playing singles or doubles, here is the easiest way to keep track of your pickleball scores.
How To Keep Track of Scores in Pickleball
For those new to pickleball and how scores work in the game, let’s start with a refresher. In doubles, pickleball scores are said by the player before serving as “Score, Score, Server”. You start with your team’s score, then your opponent’s score, and whether you’re Server 1 or Server 2.
So if your team’s score is 2, your opponent’s 1, and you’re Server 1, meaning you started at the right side of the court, the score would be “2, 1, 1”.
While the first two numbers can be and will eventually be a number bigger than 2, the last number will always be 1 or 2 because there are only 2 servers in each team. Now let’s get into how to keep track of scores.
Keeping Pickleball Scores In A Double’s Game
In a doubles game, the player on the right side of the court facing the net will always start the serving. At each turn, or side out, the player on the right side of the court will always be Server 1. The player on the left side of the court is then Server 2. As they score during their service, Server 1 and Server 2 will switch positions. This continues until a team gets 11 points or wins by 2 points.
To remember what your score is no matter where you are in the game is to first remember who the player on the right (Server 1) is at the beginning of the game. The position of the player will tell you if the score is even or odd.
When the player that started out the game as Server 1 is on the right side of the court, the score can only be an even number. The score will either be 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10. When Server 1 is on the left side of the court, the score can only be odd, meaning 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9.
This applies to your opponents as well. If they cannot remember their own score, recalling which player started at their right side at the beginning of the game will tell you if the score should be even or odd. It can be easy to lose track of scores when it is only a point off. However, a score would not easily be off in multiples of 2.
For example, once you know if a score should be even, you can deduce the score. It can be 2 or 4 or maybe 4 or 6. But it is unlikely that it would be 2 or 6. Most people would notice such a drastic 4 points lead. The same principle applies to any odd scores.
Keeping Pickleball Scores In A Single Game
Scoring in a singles pickleball game is similar, with the exception of the number of players. Both players start on both right sides of the court, facing the net. Each player must alternate sides when a score has been made.
Since both players start on the right side of the court, the score will be even when both players are on the right side and odd when they are on the left side. That is all you will need to remember in a singles pickleball game.
Last Tips
While scores can get lost in the middle of a game, knowing this simple tip will help remind you and everyone where you’re at. For a refresher on how to play pickleball, check the next article below.
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