Each sport has a particular feature or aspect that distinguishes it from the rest of the sports. This feature can either be its equipment, its arena or its scoring system. Pickleball, a paddle sport, is often classified under racquet sports. This sport draws similarities to tennis and badminton based on its mode of playing. However, its equipment and a hallmark area on the court make it unique from the other sports.
This particular area is called the Kitchen and it has got nothing to do with cooking. In a sport called shuffleboard, an area called the kitchen is where players can lose points. The exact origin of Kitchen in pickleball is unknown but it is likely that it is derived from shuffleboard.
The kitchen is a zone on the pickleball court that extends seven feet on either side, from the net. It is also called a no-volley zone. A volley is a shot that a player plays by hitting the ball directly without the ball landing on the court. In pickleball, if a player hits a volley while standing in the kitchen, he or she loses the point. Thus, a player must allow the ball to pitch at least once before hitting it while standing in the non-volley zone.
Let us assume that a player standing in the kitchen sees the ball approaching towards him/her directly. The player then jumps and hits the volley mid-air. In such a case, the player will eventually land in the kitchen due to which he/she won’t be able to win the point. The only way he/she can avoid losing that point is if he/she can land outside the kitchen after hitting the shot mid-air from that position. Besides, it takes superhuman abilities to land outside the kitchen after hitting a shot mid-air while originally standing in the kitchen.
There is no restriction as to how many times the player can land in the kitchen provided he or she does not hit a volley while standing in that area.
