Shot Number Language:

It is important to define and acquaint players with the pickleball specific language that is broadly used to describe specific shots. Shots following the serve and return of serve are referred to by their number sequence in the rally—3rd shot, 4th shot, 5th shot… Clearly defined, a 3rd shot would be the third stroke played in a point, following the serve and the return, making it the serving team’s subsequent shot following their initial serve. It is worth noting that an obvious implication of this is that odd numbers will indicate a shot played by the serving team and even numbers will indicate a shot played by the receiving team. The most commonly used shot number terminology is for 3rd, 4th, and 5th shots. Shot number terminology can be extended to 6th shots and beyond but is less common due to the various deviations that can occur during point when that stage of the rally is reached.

Shot number language is the general term for the stroke and does not indicate the type of stroke being played unless specifically defined. For example, a 3rd shot could take the form of a 3rd shot drive, 3rd shot drop, or 3rd shot lob. If a specific type of 3rd is being defined it should be dubbed a 3rd shot (shot type).

It is common to eliminate the “shot” portion of the term once players are familiar with the terminology to abbreviate as 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. As mentioned above, this would indicate the general shot number category, not a specific stroke within it unless specifically defined.