Rules Rule! September 2024

National Rules Commissioner Dan Horner welcomes questions from members and will respond timely along with occasionally featuring a few each month in USAR’s Serving Up the News. Write to Dan at rulescommissioner@usaracquetball.com, and you may see your questions in a future issue of this newsletter! Speaking of question from members, here are a few that arrived in my inbox recently.

Q1. In club level play are penalty hinders called?

A1.  Yes, the rulebook is for all skill-levels at all times.  Now with that said many lower-level players never call penalty hinders because they either don't know what constitutes a penalty or they think they shouldn't apply to them.  On the contrary, many high-level players call penalties on themselves even in rec play when they mess up and hit the ball right back at themselves.  

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Q2. Can the server call a screen on their serve when receiver doesn’t want to call it?

A2. In self-refereed racquetball the answer is no.  What the server thinks doesn't matter.  The person impacted is the new offensive player that is preparing to return the serve.  They are entitled to hit any serve they want except for one that has already been deemed a defective serve because it was short, three-walls, etc.  Some people even enjoy returning serves that are going to be long just to surprise the server and potentially get a side out.  

In the self-referee section Rule D.3 Serve says, "The screen serve call is the sole responsibility of the receiver. Basically, the screen serve is demonstrated by the receiver NOT trying to return the serve. If the receiver has taken the proper court position, near center court, and the ball passes so close to the server that the closeness causes impairment of the receiver’s attempt to return the serve, a screen serve should be called immediately. The receiver may not call a screen after attempting to hit the ball or after taking himself out of proper court position by starting the wrong way. The server may not call a screen under any circumstance and thus, must always expect to play the rally unless the receiver verbally calls “screen serve”.

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Q3. Hi, when playing doubles, can a server be standing in either of the 2 boxes (the drive serve box and/or the doubles box at either side of the service zone serving a lob serve?
One of the opposing players contends a server can only serve a lob serve when standing in the center service zone and can never serve if standing in either of the small zones at each end of the service zone.

A3. The server can stand anywhere fully inside of the 20x5 Service Zone including in either of the 18"x60" Service Boxes that doubles partners stand in while their partner serves the ball.  There are restrictions as to where you can be when serving certain drive serves, but none if you are hitting a lob serve.  As a matter of fact the server could even share the small Service Box with their partner if the can both fit in there at the same time.

To view/download the Official Rules of Racquetball, visit

https://www.teamusa.org/usa-racquetball/rules.