Guide to Pickleball Net Selection and Arrangement

Are you an avid fan of badminton, tennis, and ping-pong? Or do you simply enjoy playing these types of games? If you answered yes to all of these questions, then you may try to consider playing another similar sport that requires you to hit a small ball with a racket or a paddle. Pickleball fits that description well.

The basics of the game require you to use solid paddles to hit a polymer ball to the opponent’s side. You gain a score if the opponent does not hit the ball back across the net. The dimensions of the court resemble that of a badminton court with the net set up as low as a tennis court. You may say that this game operates like a combination of the three racquet sports.

There can be a lot of factors that could affect the way you play the game. Some play the game outdoors without a court, but most players enjoy playing the game in a real court with a pickleball net. With a pickleball net, it gives you the excitement and challenge of how to play the game the proper way.

What do you need to consider with regards to selecting a pickleball net? Here are the two things you need to know.

Size of the Net

There may be a lot of available nets out there that you can purchase from sports shops and Amazon. But you should know the appropriate size and dimensions of the net to use. People tend to believe that as long as you have a net in the middle, that would be fine to play it. So, they either buy a tennis net or badminton net to use for pickleball. This is not the advisable option.

The importance of using a regulation-size pickleball net shows how it differentiates from the other racquet sports. Not only that, when you don’t use the correct type of net, errors would be inevitable when it comes to playing the game. There would be instances that a regular pickleball net could save you in a close game.

So, what is the regulation size of a regular pickleball net? If you’re trying to purchase it from a sports store, they would tell you that the dimensions of the net are 22 inches wide, 36 inches high in sidelines, and 34 inches tall in the center. This serves as the standard for all pickleball nets, even if you purchase them in online platforms such as pickypickleball.com/best-pickleball-nets.

Design of Net

At first glance, you may think that the design of a pickleball net looks similar to that of a tennis or badminton net. Although this may sound true in some cases, there remains the important differences between the 3 net designs.

Notice the square size of each net. As you can see, the badminton net has the smallest square size among the three, while the pickleball net has the largest square size by only a few centimeters difference from the two nets.

Not only that—a pickleball net’s width looks shorter than a tennis net but a bit longer than a badminton net. You may say that it is a hybrid of the two nets.

Pickleball Net Set-up

Now that you are familiar with the size and design of a pickleball net, you need to have the knowledge to set it up. With proper set-up comes great playing experience of the game. This will guide you on how to perfectly set up your pickleball net.

Height of Net from the Ground

This serves as the most important factor to set up because if you set the net too high or low, it wouldn’t be called pickleball anymore. If you notice the other two racquet sports, the net for badminton takes a high ground position while tennis takes the low ground position.

When it comes to pickleball, the net height from the ground is slightly lower than tennis. You have to remember this factor because pickleballs are heavier than tennis balls. Hitting it across the other side of the net seems harder than the other.

Base Frame Assembly

Since you know the height requirement for setting up the net, you can start fixing the base frame of the net. This would be the foundation of your net since it will not stand without it. For every net set-up, there would be instruction manuals for doing this.

But for cases without an instruction manual, what you need to do is connect all the joint connections of your base properly so that it won’t be ruined by a small hit from a ball.

Poles

Poles connect your pickleball net from one end to the other. There is a total of two poles in your set-up. This can be considered the easiest step in your net set-up, for you only need to connect one pole vertically to the right-side base and connect the other pole to the opposite side.

Net Placement

Once you’re done with the poles, you have to stretch out the net in order to connect it to the poles. You can see an insertion path for the net so that you can place it there. Once you have inserted the net in the two poles, you need to secure it with the included Velcro attached to the net.

These are all the things you need to remember when it comes to setting up and selecting your net. Hopefully, this would enhance your pickleball experience to greater heights.