Andrea Molberg
Ever needed an extra player or two for pickleball? I just did while at a dude ranch near Jackson Hole. My husband’s late wife’s family rode horses, fished, swam and played pickleball at Red Rock Ranch for years in the late 90s and early 2000s. This year the Greenleaf family and I (17 of us) gathered again where decades ago one of the original pickleball founders from Washington had introduced the sport to the Wyoming ranch when he was a guest.
With so many wonderful ranch activities available, four Greenleaf players weren’t always ready for doubles pickleball but my newly replaced knees and hips weren’t ready for singles. Knowing we would tire too quickly in the high altitude, my 66-year-old sister-in-law and I modified the game. We only served, returned and hit to the opposite diagonal court. We reduced our running to just half the court and increased our need to position the ball more accurately. Under these conditions, I even beat my extremely fit, athletic 16-year-old grandson who’d been on every winning doubles team last week.
Coach Mo and Deb Harrison’s helpful YouTube video recommends many other pickleball game variations and drills.
When you have too few or too many players you might try:
Dinking: Two players stand on opposite sides of the net and dink (hit the ball back and forth only into the kitchen, or no volley zone. Count number of dinks.
Volleys: Two players stand on opposite sides of the net and hit the ball in the air (volley) back and forth. Count the number of volleys. Note the ball cannot hit the ground. The contestants’ scores count only when they complete at least five volleys.
Three Person Team Pickleball: Played similar to doubles, except with three players on each side. To serve, two players stand in the normal doubles position with the third teammate standing outside the right sideline near the no volley zone (NVZ) line. Once the server serves, the server moves to the back center of the court, the person on the left baseline moves up to the NVZ line and the third person steps onto the right side of the court at the NVZ line. These three players will rotate clockwise after each point or after each volley. The players stand somewhat in a triangle shape with the back person taking all the shots that come down the middle line and the other two guarding the net.
Six Person Team Rodeo: Six people line up to the side and behind the baseline. Only one paddle is used per team and a different player hits each shot using the paddle. As soon as the ball is hit, the paddle is passes on to the next teammate and that next teammate runs onto the court to be ready for the next oncoming shot. The game is played similar to singles and rally scoring would make the game shorter. Good communication (or yelling) is necessary for passing (handing) the paddle to the next player’s hand.
Have fun!