Rarely does a pickleball paddle break after hitting a routine volley at the Kitchen line. However, that is exactly what happened to Riley Newman when playing with his partner Parris Todd against the brother-sister duo, JW and Jorja Johnson, in the video below. What rule does this paddle break violate?
Newman’s paddle break violates one of the cornerstone rules of the sport—it is a Kitchen violation! According to the rules, “[i]f the paddle touches the non-volley zone during the volley motion, before or after contacting the ball, it is a fault.” By no fault of his own, Newman’s paddle made contact with the Kitchen after his volley motion. As a result, he committed a fault and loses the rally. Watch your paddle heads out there…