page_title: Four wall paddleball
section_title: The game
hierarchical_section_title: Four wall paddleball / The game
caption_attribution_description: English: Image depicting the jockeying for position in a doubles paddleball rally.
context_page_description: Four wall paddleball, or paddleball, is a popular court sport in the Upper Midwest of the United States, on the West Coast of the U.S. and in the Memphis, Tennessee area. It is played with a paddle and small rubber ball on a standard handball or racquetball court, with similar rules to those sports.
context_section_description: Paddleball can be played with two players (singles), three players ("cut throat"), or four players (doubles). The rules of paddleball are similar to indoor racquetball, and both sports are played on the same 40-by-20-foot (12.2 by 6.1 m) court. The most-significant differences between paddleball and racquetball are:
  Paddleball players play with a solid paddle, rather than a strung racket.
  A paddleball is slower (and slightly larger) than a racquetball.
  Paddleball games are played to 21 points, instead of 15 or 11 (as in racquetball).
  There are other minor differences, but racquetball players tend to pick up the sport quickly and many players are good in both. Marty Hogan, Charlie Brumfield and Bud Muehleisen, for instance, each held national open titles in both sports; Hogan held both national open titles during the same year.
  The differences in the paddle and the ball make for longer rallies than in racquetball, and use more of the court. As a consequence paddleball tends to be more physical, and contact between players (while discouraged) occurs more often than in racquetball. Playing the sport at the highest level requires an advanced degree of fitness and endurance, similar to that required by squash.
  The official governing organization for paddleball is the National Paddleball Association (NPA), whose website is the official source for current rules and tournament schedules.
caption: Doubles players jockeying for position; (left to right) Rick Florence, Kirk Loveday, Jim Durst and Clair Steffan (2008). Loveday and Florence were national-caliber players at the time, and Steffan has won Senior Olympic gold medals in paddleball.
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