Pickleball is easy to pick up and hard to put down. Most new players can get a rally going within their first hour on the court. Getting from "I can hit it back" to "I win more points than I lose" takes a little more work, and the good news is that most of it comes down to a handful of rules, shots, and habits. These 10 tips are the ones that help beginners improve fastest.

1Learn the Two-Bounce Rule First

After the serve, the ball HAS to bounce once on each side before anyone can hit it out of the air. The receiving team lets the serve bounce. Then the serving team has to let the return bounce. After those two bounces, anything goes, and players can volley or play the ball off the bounce.

This one rule shapes the whole game. It is why the serving team starts the point at the baseline, and why the receiving team can move forward right away. It is also one of the most common faults new players commit, usually by rushing the net after serving and volleying the return.

2Respect the Kitchen

The non-volley zone, better known as the KITCHEN, is the area that runs 7 feet from the net on both sides. You can't volley while standing in it or touching its line. If your momentum carries you into the kitchen after a volley, that is a fault too, even if the ball has already landed.

What you can do is step into the kitchen at any time to play a ball that has bounced. Beginners tend to make one of two mistakes: they stay far back because the kitchen feels off-limits, or they drift into it and volley. The goal is to play right up at the kitchen line with your toes just behind it.

3Know How Scoring Works

In traditional doubles scoring, only the serving team can win a point. Games are usually played to 11, and you have to win by 2. The score is called as three numbers: the serving team's score, the receiving team's score, and the server number, either 1 or 2, since both partners get a turn to serve.

A game starts at 0-0-2. That looks odd at first, but it simply means the team that serves first gets only one server on its opening turn. Some leagues and events use rally scoring, where the team that wins the rally gets the point no matter who served. Ask which system your group plays before the first game. Scoring can be tough to understand, especially at first, but it does get easier to follow with more experience.

4Keep Your Serve Simple and Deep

The serve is hit underhand and goes diagonally across the court, and it has to land past the kitchen line in the correct service box. A serve that lands on the kitchen line is a fault. With a standard volley serve, your paddle has to move in an upward arc, contact has to happen below your waist, and the paddle head has to stay below your wrist. You can also use a drop serve, where you drop the ball, let it bounce, and then hit it.

Unlike tennis, you don't get a second serve. Miss it, and your turn is over. That is why the best beginner serve is a boring one. Skip the aces and aim for the deep middle of the box. A deep serve keeps your opponents back, and a serve that clips the net and lands in the right box is still in play.

5Hit Your Return Deep, Then Move Up

The return of serve is the receiving team's chance to take the net. Hit it high enough to clear the net comfortably and deep enough to push the serving team back. Then walk up to the kitchen line while your opponents wait for the ball to bounce, as the two-bounce rule requires.

In doubles, the team that controls the kitchen line usually controls the point. A deep return buys you the time you need to get there. A short return does the opposite, since it lets the serving team move forward and gives you less time to set up.

6Learn to Dink

A dink is a soft shot hit from near the kitchen line that arcs just over the net and lands in your opponent's kitchen. Because it stays low after the bounce, it is hard to attack. Long dink rallies are a normal part of the game, and the player who is more patient in them usually wins the point.

Keep your wrist quiet and use your shoulder to lift the ball, with a short, smooth follow-through. Aim cross-court when you can. The net is lower in the middle, and the diagonal gives you more court to work with, so cross-court dinks leave more margin for error. Becoming a good dinker can draw errors from overzealous opponents.

7Practice the Third-Shot Drop

Count the shots in a point: the serve, the return, and then the third shot. By the time the serving team hits that third shot, the returners are usually already at the kitchen line. That puts the serving team at a disadvantage.

The third-shot drop is the answer. It is a soft shot hit from the back of the court that lands in your opponents' kitchen, which forces them to hit up and gives your team time to move forward. It is one of the hardest shots for new players to learn, so give it real practice time. Move up in stages as you go. If your drop is good, take a few steps forward. If it isn't, stop, get balanced, and try to reset the point with another soft ball.

8Get Your Grip and Ready Position Right

Most coaches start beginners with a continental grip, which feels a lot like shaking hands with the paddle. It lets you hit forehands, backhands, and volleys without switching your grip in the middle of a fast exchange. Hold it loosely. On a scale of 1 to 10, grip pressure around a 3 or 4 gives you better touch on soft shots.

Between shots, get back to a ready position: knees slightly bent, weight on the balls of your feet and paddle up in front of your chest. Exchanges at the kitchen line happen fast. If your paddle is hanging down by your knees, you will be late on anything hit at you.

9Communicate with Your Partner

Doubles is a team game, and quiet teams lose a lot of points to balls that split right between them. Call "mine" or "yours" early. Call "bounce" when you want your partner to let a ball bounce, and "out" when you think it is going long or wide.

For balls down the middle, a common rule is that the player whose forehand is in the middle takes it. For two right-handed players, that is the partner on the left side. Try to move as a unit too. If one partner moves up, back or sideways, the other should follow, so you don't leave a big gap for your opponents to hit through.

10Be Patient and Let Out Balls Go

At the beginner level, most points end on an error, not on a great shot. You will win more by keeping the ball in play than by trying to hit winners. Wait for a ball you can attack, which usually means one that is above the height of the net. Swinging hard at a low ball tends to send it into the net or long.

The same goes for hard shots coming at you. A ball hit at chest height or higher from the baseline is often headed out, so let it go. And when a lob goes over your head, never backpedal. Turn and move sideways to track it down, or let your partner take it. Falling backward is one of the most common ways players get hurt on the court.

For the full set of official rules, USA Pickleball publishes an updated rulebook every year. Most recreational games and amateur tournaments follow it.