Sports Equipment

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal of baseball is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four markers called bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team (the batting team) take turns hitting while the other team (the fielding team) tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and hope to score on a teammate’s hit. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team gets three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning; nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.

Baseball on the professional, amateur, and youth levels is popular in North America, Central America, parts of South America and the Caribbean, and parts of East Asia and Southeast Asia. The modern version of the game developed in North America, beginning in the eighteenth century. The consensus of historians is that it evolved from earlier bat-and-ball games, such as cricket and rounders, brought to the continent by British and Irish immigrants. By the late nineteenth century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. The game is sometimes referred to as hardball in contrast to the very similar game of softball.

In North America, professional Major League Baseball teams are divided into the National League (NL) and American League (AL). Each league has three divisions: East, West, and Central. Every year, the champion of Major League Baseball is determined by playoffs culminating in the World Series. Four teams make the playoffs from each league: the three regular season division winners, plus one wild card team. The wild card is the team with the best record among the non–division winners in the league. In the National League, the pitcher is required to bat, per the traditional rules. In the American League, there is a tenth player, a designated hitter, who bats for the pitcher. Each major league team has a “farm system” of minor league teams at various levels. These teams allow younger players to develop as they gain on-field experience against opponents with similar levels of skill.

Written in part with Wikipedia:

Serve:

Players must keep one foot behind the back line when serving. The serve is made underhand. The server must hit the pickleball in the air on the serve.  The ball may not be bounced and then hit.  The service is made diagonally cross court and must clear the non-volley zone.  Only one serve attempt is allowed, except if the ball touches the net on the serve and lands in the proper service court. Then the serve may be taken over. The serve changes courts after each successful point. On the first serve,the serving team is allowed only one fault before giving up the ball to the opponents.  Thereafter both members of each team will serve and fault before it is turned over to the opposing team.  When receiving team wins the serve, the player in the right hand court will always starts the play.

Volley:

To volley a ball means to hit it in the air without first letting it bounce. All volleying must be done with player’s feet clearly behind the non-volley zone.   It is a fault if the player steps on or over the non-volley zone line.

Double Bounce Rule:

Each team must play its first shot off the bounce. That is, the receiving team must let the serve bounce, and then serving team must let the return of the serve bounce before playing it.  After the 2 bounces have occurred, the ball can be either volleyed or played off the bounce.

Fault:

Hitting the ball out of bounds (a ball landing on a line if considered in bounds),  ball does not clear net, stepping into non-volley zone while playing the ball on a volley. Volleying the ball before it has bounce once on each side of the net.

Scoring:

The serving player/team can only score the point.  A player who is serving shall continue until a fault is made.  The game is played to 11 points with a 2 point margin.

NON-VOLLEY ZONE

Double play:

Player in right hand court (1) serves diagonally across court to receiver 3 in opposite right hand court.  The ball must clear the non-volley zone and land in the right hand court.  The receiver (3) must let the ball bounce before returning the serve.  Serving team must also let the return bounce before playing it. After the both bounces have occurred, the ball may then be either volleyed or played off the bounce until a fault is made. If the fault is made by the receiving team a point is scored by the serving team.  When the serving team wins a point, its players will switch courts and the same player will continue to serve. When the serving team makes it’s first fault, players will stay in the same court and the second partner will then serve.  When they make their second fault they will stay in the same courts and turn the ball over to the other team.  Players switch courts only after scoring.  

 The Court

The game is played on a court that is the same size as a badminton court (20 feet wide by 44 feet long). The net is set at 36 inches high on the edges and 34 inches in the middle.

Terminology

Baseline— The line at the back of the pickleball court (22 feet from the net).

Centerline— The line bisecting the service courts that extends from the non-volley zone line to the baseline.

Crosscourt— The opponent’s court diagonally opposite yours.

Dink— A soft, low shot, initiated from within or just behind the non-volley zone, that lands in the opponent’s non-volley zone.

Double Bounce Rule— After a serve, each team must play their first shot off the bounce, after which the ball can be played off the bounce or volleyed.

Fault— An infringement of the rules that ends the rally.

Foot Fault— Failure to keep at least one foot behind the baseline and touching the ground at the moment the middle contacts the ball during a serve, or stepping on or into the non-volley zone while volleying a ball.

Let Serve— A serve that touches the top of the net and lands in the proper service court (it is replayed without penalty).

Non-Volley Zone— A seven-foot area adjacent to the net within which you may not volley the ball. The non-volley zone usually includes all lines around it.

Poach— In doubles, to cross over into your partner’s area to play a ball.

Rally— Hitting the ball back and forth between opponents.

Serve (Service)— An underhand lob or drive stroke used to put a ball into play at the beginning of a point.

Server Number— When playing doubles, either “1” or “2,” depending on whether you are the first or second server for your side. This number is appended to the score when it is called.

Sideline— The line at the side of the court.

Volley— To hit the ball before it bounces.
Written in part with Wikipedia:

Pickleball was created in 1965 by co-inventors U.S. Congressman Joel Pritchard, William Bill Bell and Barney McCallum as a sport for the entire family.The name “Pickleball®” may have come from a family dog named “Pickles” who chased after balls and hid them. Pickle’s ball eventually became the name of the game “Pickleball®”. People played the game in their backyards on a hard surface, driveways and even on dead-end streets. Since the mid-1970s Pickleball® expanded to a court sport with rules and is now played in thousands of school physical education programs, parks, communities, YMCAs, etc. It has become very popular with senior citizens and PE teachers use this game as a lead up game for teaching racquet skills. It is played indoors or outdoors on a hard surfaced 20′ x 44′ area (size of a badminton court).

Standard pickleball equipment consists of a tennis-height net (34″ in the center), a plastic perforated baseball [whiffleball] and wood or composite paddles.

Make sure the tennis net posts are securely anchored into the court surface and that they do not move when pressure is applied to them.

Affix the cable loop at the top of the net (on both sides) to the hook at the top of the post.

Feed the excess cable length into the winding device mounted on the post. Most posts have this type of winding mechanism to help keep the net taut and maintain proper net height during regular play. If there is no winding device or you are unsure how to use it, tie the cable securely around the post several times, instead.

Run the net lacing through the grommets at the top of the post and wind them around, tying them tightly.

Tie the bottom loop cables to the hook on the bottom of the anchoring posts.

Tighten the top of the net with the winding device or by tying the loop tighter. When you are finished adjusting the net’s tension, there should be no room between the net tape and the securing post.

Measure the height of the net near the posts. The top of the net tape should be about 42 inches from the ground.

Install the anchoring strap in the middle of the net and attach it to the hook mounted on the court surface.

Measure the height of the net at the center of the court. The top of the net should be 36 inches off the ground after it is anchored.

A compound bow is a modern bow that uses a levering system, usually of cables and pulleys, to bend the limbs.

The limbs of a compound bow are usually much stiffer than those of a recurve bow or longbow. This limb stiffness makes the compound bow more energy efficient than other bows, but the limbs are too stiff to be drawn comfortably with a string attached directly to them. The compound bow has the string attached to the pulleys, one or both of which has one or more cables attached to the opposite limb. When the string is drawn back, the string causes the pulleys to turn. This causes the pulleys to pull the cables, which in turn causes the limbs to bend and thus store energy.