Pickleball basics: a 40-minute PE lesson for 7th grade

1. Grip: hold the paddle like a handshake. Bounce the ball up on the paddle 10 times.
2. Serve: stand behind the back line, drop the ball and swing underhand, hitting it below the waist and diagonally into the opposite service area.
3. Teach the two-bounce rule: the return of serve must bounce, and the serving team's next shot must bounce too. After that, players may hit before or after the bounce.
4. Teach the kitchen: you may not hit the ball out of the air while standing in the zone 7 feet from the net. Practice soft dinks over the net from the kitchen line.
5. Play doubles to 7 points, using rally scoring to keep class games quick. Rotate courts after each game.
6. Talk it over: "Why does the kitchen rule make the game fairer?"

Safety: partners call "mine" to avoid swinging into each other; waiting players stay outside the court until a rally ends; check paddles for cracks; take water between games. Every session: warm up first, clear the space, keep water nearby, and stop if anything hurts or a student feels dizzy or unwell.

Differentiation: students who need support can use a larger, slower foam ball and skip the kitchen rule at first. Students who use wheelchairs can play with the two-bounce allowance used in wheelchair pickleball. Students who are ready can keep score with official side-out scoring. English learners can learn the words serve, bounce, kitchen and dink.

Quick check: ask a student to explain the two-bounce rule and the kitchen rule in their own words.

For a full year of free grade 7 PE sessions, see Move Every Day from UpOnly Learning.

For more ideas at this grade, browse the other free activities on the Hub.