The Erne is an increasingly popular shot on the pickleball courts. An Erne is an advanced shot where you jump or run around the Kitchen and make contact with the pickleball to the side of the Kitchen and close to the net. But, with the rise in popularity of the Erne, also comes the rise in foot fault violations , like the one by Wesley Burrows at the PPA Orange County Cup in the video below.
If you are working on your Erne skills, remember that all volleys (which includes all Ernes) must be executed outside of the Non-Volley Zone. You may jump over the Non-Volley Zone, as long as you do not touch the Non-Volley Zone line or the Non-Volley Zone surface area, or, if you touch the Non-Volley Zone, then you must re-establish your feet outside of the Non-Volley Zone before hitting your Erne. So, be aware of your feet on your Erne attempts. Consider practicing your footwork with drills to help enforce muscle memory of where your feet need to be to stay out of the Kitchen.
For a deeper breakdown on all of the rules of pickleball, check out Pickler’s Ultimate Guide to the Rules of Pickleball.
Have you had an interesting rules issue on the pickleball court? Send it to us at stacie@thepickler.com, so we can share with the rest of the pickleball community in a future newsletter.
