By Mark Peifer, USA Pickleball Certified Referee; Past Chairman, USA Pickleball Rules Committee
QUESTION: Do players need to re-establish themselves outside the kitchen before hitting a ball that bounces in the kitchen, or can they remain in the kitchen between volleys as long as the ball bounces?
ANSWER: You do not need to re-establish outside of the NVZ if the ball bounces in the NVZ, or anywhere else on the court, for that matter. You can camp out in the NVZ if you want and you can remain in the NVZ in between volleys if you want. If the ball bounces first and then you hit it, that isn’t a volley, so you are perfectly legal to hit a ‘bounced ball’ while standing inside or outside the NVZ. There is no requirement to re-establish in that case. The re-establish requirement applies only if you are standing in or touching any part of the NVZ first and then you hit a volley. In that case, yes, you must first have both feet touching outside the NVZ before hitting the volley.
The Rules that cover the NVZ are in Section 9 of the Rulebook. Several of them cover your questions. As a fun exercise, you might take a copy of pages 36 and 37 of the Rulebook and ask that opponent to show you which rule you violated. Hint: They won’t be able to because there is no such rule upon which they could base their opinion of what they say happened.
