Pickleball is exploding across the US resulting in a flood of clubs, cities, recreation departments and homeowners trying to build Pickleball courts or convert tennis courts into Pickleball courts. In fact, the USAPA reports there are currently 2.46 million Pickleball players in the United States. If you are looking to be a part of this sport, you may have questions about building a regulation sized court. Unfortunately, architects and construction companies may have never designed and built Pickleball courts before. Once the concrete is poured with the sleeves and anchor are set, you cannot fix a wrong measurement. So, before the concrete is poured, let’s address the basics of a Pickleball court.

Note: All of the facts included in this article is taken from the USAPA website and then detailed a little more to prevent some of the common mistakes made in dealing with Pickleball courts and equipment.

To get more detail on pickleball court line placement and dimensions, go to USAPA.org.

Sleeve placement:

2.C.2 Posts should be 22 feet from Inside of one post to Inside of the other post. Therefore, be careful to measure that your sleeves are placed properly to accommodate this measurement.

This means you must measure inside of sleeve court side to inside of sleeve court and that measurement should be 22’

Anchor placement:

2.C.6 Center Strap. A center strap is recommended for permanent nets and should be placed at the center of the net to enable easy adjustment to the 34-inch height requirement at center.

If you want to have a regulation height net, then you will need an anchor to hold the center strap. The center strap is then tightened to the height of 34”

Note: If the club, homeowner or city is not planning on hosting sanctioned tournaments then they can choose to ignore the center strap adjustment.

Posts:

2.C.2 Posts. Net posts should be 22 feet (6.71 m) from the inside of one post to the inside of the other post. The maximum diameter of the net post should be 3 inches (7.62 cm).

Again, measure inside your nets post, it must be 22’ and you cannot have posts more than 3” in diameter.

Nets:

2.C.3. Size. The net length should be at least 21 feet 9 inches (6.63 m) extending from one post to the other. The net height should be at least 30 inches (0.76 m) from top to bottom.

To be regulation, your net must be 21’ 9” at least in length. But the height of the net only has to be 30”. This allows you to choose a net anywhere from 30” high to 36” high. See Height rule for additional information.

2.C.5. Height. The net shall be suspended over the center of the court and shall be 36” high at the sidelines and 34” high at the center of the court.

There is your answer! No matter what the height, 30” or 36”, the net must be hung from the net posts at the 36” height. Many pickleballers’ find this convenient. You just roll the ball under the net to get it to the opponent’s side.

This covers all the basics on Pickleball court and equipment. Just to summarize:

1. Always measure from inside net posts to inside net posts BEFORE buying a net.
2. Double check when having a pickleball court built that the contractor is using an ID inside post measurement not an OD measurement. OD is the most common way to measure and that is why so many courts for both pickleball and tennis have posts that are too close together.
3. Your net height can be anywhere from 30” to 36” but must be hung at the 36” height from your posts.
4. Even though these rules do not say so, you need a 36” high post to hang your net at 36” at the posts.

All Star Tennis Courts will be happy to answer any questions you may have about Pickleball courts and equipment. If you’ve made the decision to get involved in this fast growing sport, we have the Pickleball experience to help you create the court of your dreams. For more specifics refer to the USAPA website for exact court layouts and other details you may need.