The Service

To begin a rally, a player serves the ball to his or her opponent. When serving, a player must have part of one foot touching the floor within the service box. No part of that foot may touch the line surrounding the service box.

For a service to be good, the ball must hit the front wall above the service line and below the out line. After striking the front wall, the ball’s first bounce must be within the back quarter on the opposite side of the court (the opponent’s quarter). However, the ball does not need to bounce because the opponent may choose to “volley” the serve; that is, hit it in the air before it touches the floor. If, in the course of a serve, the ball touches any part of the court outside of the described areas or on or outside of an out line, the serve is a “fault” and the opponent wins the point and the serve.

If the server wins the point, the next serve is from the other service box.

Play After the Serve – The Rally

Once a successful serve has been delivered, the rally begins. The players take turns hitting the ball and need to move around each other to retrieve the ball after it strikes the front wall but before it bounces on the floor twice. The player may strike the ball in the air or after its first bounce.

In order to make a “fair” return during a rally, a player must hit the ball to the front wall on the fly. The ball may strike the side or back walls at any time in the course of a shot, as long as the ball hits the front wall on the fly without touching the floor or any area outside the out lines of the court. A rally ends when a player fails to make a good return and the other player is awarded the point.

A match is the best of 3 or 5 games. Each game is played to 11 points. The player who scores 11 points first wins the game. However, if the score reaches 10-all, the game continues until one player wins by two points, e.g., 13-11.