Casual racket sports that use paddles are really surging in the USA. One of the newer paddle sports that is emerging is paddleball. Paddleeball has a very similar ethos to Pickleball, but is a much different sport thatn Pickleball in that it is played on a court and utilizes a wall that players volley a ball against similar to that of Squash and Raquetball. Pickleball utilizes a net and looks more like tennis. But both sports are attracting similar demographics, so let’s look at what both sports are and what their similarities and difference are.
What is Paddleball
Generally speaking, Paddleball is a sport played on a 20 feet wide and 50 feet long court where 2 opponents stand on the same side of the court and relay a ball off of a wall. Paddleball can be played indoor, or outdoors depending upon whether it is One-Wall Paddle Ball (outdoor), Three-Wall paddleball (outdoor) or Four-Wall Paddleball (indoor). The game is sort of a combination of wall ball and racquetball, especially the version that is played outdoors on city courts. Generally speaking, each player must hit the ball against the wall. Whoever is receiving any given volley must return the ball by hitting the ball before it bounces twice.
One-Wall Paddle Ball
One wall paddle ball involves two teams volleying a ball against one singular wall. This is the easiest to play in city parks because there are wallball courts and concrete walls that can be found anywhere. Here are the official rules for one wall paddle ball.
Three Wall Paddle Ball
Three wall paddle ball has (you guessed it) three walls. The second two walls wrap around the court and face perpendicular to the main wall.
Four Wall Paddle Ball
Four wall paddle ball is the most like racquetball and is played in an enclosed room with all four walls. 4 wall paddleball is played indoors by default as there must be a ceiling.
What is Pickleball?
Pickleball is a sport that was invented in Bainbridge Island Washington State in 1965. It is a racket/paddle sport with a net similar to a tennis net played on a court roughly the size of a badminton court.
The rules are also similar to badminton and tennis, and it is quite easy is easy to pick up and play with your friends on blacktop or a tennis court. The game involves either 2 pickleball players playing singles or 4 pickleball players playing doubles.
Pickleball vs Paddle Ball: Similarities and Differences
Although the sports look much different because Paddle ball uses a wall instead of a net, the sports actually have a lot of overlap. This being said, they are much different from each other.
Similarities
Let’s start with the similarities. The first one is obvious if you’ve seen both sports. Both Pickleball and paddleball use paddles. The paddles are similar in design. Another notable similarity is that both sports are experiencing a grass roots uprising. While Pickleball is growing faster and much further down in its progression, you might be hearing much more about paddle ball in the years to come.
It is taking off in the USA and fast becoming the most popular sport with a net and paddle in the country. The reason for it’s popularilty is largley because the rules are fairly simple, and you can set up a Pickleball court on any blacktop if you have the right equipment.
Differences
Court: But the sports are also different in many ways as well. As mentioned, there is no net in Paddle ball and the court is much smaller. Players from both teams in paddleball hit the ball against the wall and face the same direction, having to maneuver between each other to return the ball. Pickleball is played in a manner similar to tennis where there are 1 or 2 players on each side of the court volleying a pickleball between each other. Pickleball courts are larger than paddleball courts since paddle ball players use the same side to maneuver and volley the ball back to each other against the wall.
Types of Paddles: In terms of the paddles, paddle ball paddles are roughly the size of racquetball racquets. The paddles must be below 18 inches in length and and 9 1/2 inches width. Pickleball paddles are much smaller. The surface area of a pickleball paddle is 10.5 inches by 8.75 inches on average with a ~5 inch long handle.
Ball used: A paddle ball is similar looking to the blue bouncy balls you would use when you play handball. The balls are pressurized and made of rubber, weighing about 50 grams. Pickleballs on the other hand are plastic and resemble a wiffleball.
Conclusion
All in all, both sports are growing in popularity here in the USA. Pickleball is on a much faster growth trajectory, but in recent years paddle ball has picked up steam in places like NYC. The main differences between the sports are that in paddle ball, players hit a rubber ball against a wall similar to racquetball whereas in Pickleball players volley a plastic ball over a net on small court that resembles a tennis court,