There's a few rules that people are
buzzing about, and one thing that people are talking about certainly is the
addition of the alternate, the alternative, the drop serve.
So why don't we just jump right in there?
Let's start with that one.
Why don't you give us a basic overview of that rule, Don?
OK, so if you've been in pickleball for a
while, you know that Steve Paronto has promoted this as an option for years.
They finally looked at it and said, OK,
we're going to we're going to try it this year and make it.
And, you know, you notice in the rulebook
or in the change document, it says provisional drop serve.
So it's on a beta test basis, so to speak.
So it is allowed this year and we'll see how it goes.
But what it is, it's basically this.
You can hold the ball.
The server has to, not the partner.
The server can hold the ball as high as you can reach.
OK, and then just let it fall out of your hand.
The point is, you can't, and I hope you
all can see my hand, you can't propel it downward to create more speed.
But as high as you can reach,
even on your tippy toes, you let the ball fall out of your hand.
OK.
The ball falls to the ground and bounces,
it can bounce anywhere inside, outside the court does not matter.
And here's the key phrase, but I know
we're going to get questions on it after that ball bounces n
othing matters but the feet.
OK, the
current rules of feet can't be touching
the baseline or the court or outside the extensions, that's still the same.
But as far as paddle above wrist, wrist
above paddle upward arc contact and not above the waist, none of that matters.
You can do a slicing chopping backspin downward, arcing serve if you want.
OK,
so again, once that ball bounces, nothing matters other than the feet.
Just make sure you touch it where you're supposed to.
Also, you can
switch at any time you want from for the sake of this presentation, we'll call it
the normal serve to the provisional drop serve.
So I can do the drop serve one time and
the very next time I can do the normal serve.
OK, so that's it.
The key factors are this. Both the ref and
the receiver must see the release of the ball.
OK, if the ref doesn't see it,
receiver doesn't see it, it's got to be a replay.
So we got to see the release of the ball.
OK, and as long as you don't propel it
downwards, once it bounces, serve it, have at it, that's basically it.
Now another thing someone says well does
still have to be below the waist or not above the waist.
None of that matters.
If you drop it and you crouch down low, that ball could
probably technically bounce above your waist.
Go ahead and hit it.
Nothing matters after the bounce other than the feet.
Let me asked some specifics.
These are some of the things that I've
been asked and some of the questions that I have.
Let's talk about first.
Let's talk about that drop,
OK?
Are there what are the rules surrounding the drop?
Like perhaps where does it have to happen as well as.
Let's start there. Let's start where does it have to have it
as well as anything else about the drop that you would like us to know?
OK, so the real quick bullet points are you can't propel it downwards.
As high as you can reach.
Let it basically fall out of your hand, roll out of your hand.
Or i may as well cover this now, they are going to allow that Covid serve.
Where you can put the ball on the paddle,
sling it up in the air, come around and serve it just on the serve.
OK, but even if you're holding the the
ball on the paddle face, just tilt your paddle, let it roll off.
So it needs to fall naturally by gravity to the ground.
Where does it bounce on the ground? Does not matter.
On the court, outside of the court, outside the extension.
It does not matter.
So as far as the release of the ball and
it needs to be visible to the ref and receiver.
OK, other than that, that's it.
And the server has to do it.
You can't have Jeff Warnick reaching und dropping the ball for Sue Wong to serve.
So that's basically the concept of the release.
OK, let's talk about that Covid serve.
I have a question real quick there,
because we've got somebody here who does it in our group.
And that one, he actually is taking it and propelling it up. Is that allowed that
the paddle gets to move up or does that have to be a drop as well?
That serve is what we would call the
normal serve. Like if I take my left hand and toss the ball up.
That's what they're allowing.
Because technically by rule, doing that on the paddle face is an illegal carry.
So they changed that rule this year. Now
it says after the serve, blah, blah, blah, illegal carry.
So they're allowing you to carry that ball on the face of the paddle just so you can
sling it up in the air so you don't have to touch the ball.
OK, so you can sling it up in the air like
you would be tossing the ball up on a normal serve.
Now, if you want to do the drop serve, you can put the ball on the paddle
and you can raise it high as you want, but you have to let it roll off.
For the drop serve y ou can't propel it upwards or downwards.
You can reach high and just let go,
whether it's let go with your hand or roll it off the paddle face.
So we're talking really two different things, right?
The one we're talking about, the Covid serve, the old rules still apply to that.
The drops serve are the new rules. Yes,
OK. All right, so we've got that one.
Now let's talk about go ahead and it looks
like you had something you were going to add. There's a really good question here.
Very pertinent. So let's say the ball bounces, OK?
And you serve. Can th e ball bounce twice and then you serve.
Why not? There's no rule against it.
I mean, it's just going to bounce lower.
So it's going to make it harder to serve.
But the point is, once that ball drops and bounces, you can let it bounce again.
You can let it bounce.
There's no limit to the number of bounces before you serve.
Also, let's say this, and this is in the change document as of last night.
Let's say a person is doing the drop serve and they propel it downward.
It bounces and they go, oh, crap, I wasn't supposed to do that.
They catch it
and they raise their hand again and drop it legally, and they serve.
No fault.
No fault, because the first time throwing
it down, that could be just you bouncing the ball.
So that's pretty much every aspect about the release.
And Don, sorry, C.J., but
one what I saw was the thing about the drop was interesting, right?
Because not only can you drop as many
times as you want, you can drop it, drop it, drop it, and then maybe hit it out of
the air, whatever you want to do it within the 10 seconds.
Really the only constraint is that as long
as you haven't exceeded 10 seconds from the score call, you do whatever you want.
Exactly. Exactly right.
OK,let's see.
Let me just I'm just kind of looking at my notes now.
Let's talk about this. This is an alternative serve, right?
This is not this is not required.
And you could mix up with the regular serve and this serve.
Is that accurate?
That is completely accurate. You have two options this year.
You can do one or both.
Switch them up any time you want.
That's going to be the Wild West out there, C.J. is going to be like, drop it
once, drop it, let it bounce two times, throw it whatever, you know,
boom. It's be crazy , be awesome, but crazy.
So, you know, one of the other things that
and you and I talked about this before I even saw the rules.
You said this is provisional for this year.
So what does provisional mean?
Actually, they didn't put the word
provisional in there, but then they decided to do it to let players know and
everyone know that this is basically a test for the next year.
If it's accepted, and not a lot of
complaints and everybody likes it, then they'll probably make it a permanent.
But I think it's the only time since 2015
that I've seen the rulebook basically say this is provisional.
We're going to give it a try this year and see how it goes.
All right.
Cool. Tony, what questions have you got for Don? What did I miss?
Well, I had a couple of questions.
I'm going to tell you, Don, my personal feeling about this.
I'm kind of I'm still figuring out the
whole thing about I can drop it 17 times or something.
Right. I mean, that's a little weird to me.
But the concept of a drop serve or a serve that is allowed to bounce, I
won't call it the bounced serve because of the propulsion part.
But the bounce idea or the drop serve idea
to me is that I think it is a positive addition to the sport.
Because it allows players who, especially when you're getting started and you're
still learning the game to bounce the ball and serve.
It doesn't create a competitive advantage.
I'm a big fan of it and I don't know if
you know this Don, but I have a video out there on service yips. My
my advice on the service yips is to bounce the ball in practice.
Right, just to drop it. Drop it.
So you get the rhythm of the serve.
I think it's a, I'm a big fan of it right now.
But let me ask you this.
So you talked about the sling serve, and I appreciate that.
But one of the things that I found interesting, and it's not necessarily
maybe the drop serve specific, but going to the serve, the same with the serve.
They removed the naval right from the rule.
Like the rule used to be the waist is the naval.
So I'm not really sure where the waist is anymore.
Well, I guess.
But see, I've got my own feelings about that.
But to me, I'll be honest with you, I'm always going to be honest with you.
I thought the way of the naval was easier to detect, especially if someone has a
little gut like me and wears a tight shirt.
I can see that little circle of their navel.
Sometimes I don't know exactly where a person's waist is,
but they wanted to remove both words and just go with one word.
So after talking, they it seems that most
of us felt like the waist was easier to define.
So they just took the word naval out. Now it's just waist.
Would you agree the waist is a little bit lower than the naval?
Like are you looking as a ref.
I mean let me ask it this way,
when you're looking are you saying
like to me it's but it's like an inch and a half or two inches.
I think if I know what the waist, as I'm
sure you know. In my opinion when I was voicing my
opinion on this, to me the waist is were like on a man is where your belt will go.
Right. Typically, that's lower than the navel.
Surprisingly, a lot of other refs felt
like, I know the waist is higher than the navel.
So
six to one, half a dozen to the other, my
dad would say and I just said, well, we're just going to go with waist.
So, you know, right here we're talking again for refs,
I'll say this. I don't get bent out of shape on trying to
really precisely, oh, that was just above your waist.
It has to be blatant for me to call it.
So that's honestly that's the main reason they allowed the drop serve to happen this
year is to, now none of that stuff matters.
None of that stuff matters.
And we won't get any arguments or debates
over paddle head above the wrist, blah, blah, blah.
So that's the reason it was was let in.
They'll be arguments, but it won't be about that anymore.