Pickleball is played on many skill levels and for many reasons. Many players participate simply for exercise and camaraderie. Some players do not even keep score. They simply play a point until someone misses a shot or hits a ball out of bounds, and then proceed to begin playing another point. They are not concerned about who serves or even from where. The game is fun and is purely social play, which is wonderful. In short, they play for an hour, and then adjourn to dine. On the other hand, whenever the game is played competitively,i.e., in formal leagues, tournaments, etc., it is critically important that the correct player serve the ball from the correct court position and that the correct receiving player be in the correct court position and endeavor to return the serve. That can only be determined by knowing who the 1st server is on each team. In tournaments, the first server wears a wrist band (or pennant on hat or shirt) given out before play begins. This permits everyone to know who was server #1 (for each pair) when the game began. That means that each time a pair wins the serve, or at anytime during play, we know where each player should be positioned. The player designated server #1 (wearing a wrist band) must always be positioned in the right box (viewed as facing the net) whenever that pair has an even number of points. The player must be positioned in the left box whenever the 1st server at the start of the game has an odd number of points. Similarly, the receiving pair must have their 1st server, i.e., when the game began, standing in the right box whenever they have an even number of points, or in the left box whenever that player ‘s pair has an odd number of points.
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