Your opponent dinks down the line. You do the sensible thing and wait for it to bounce in your kitchen. Then a player who was standing beside you a moment ago is suddenly outside the court, level with the net post, and takes the ball out of the air two feet from the net. Someone on your side says “that has to be a kitchen fault.” It usually is not.
That shot is an Erne. It looks like a loophole because it is one, a legal one, and the rules that make it work are short enough to learn in a few minutes.
Quick answer: An Erne is a volley hit from outside the sideline, beside the non-volley zone, close to the net post. It is legal because the kitchen stops at the sideline: the ground outside it is not part of the zone (Rule 3.A.4.c). It becomes a fault if you touch the zone or its lines while volleying, volley before both feet are set outside after stepping through the kitchen, or let momentum carry you back in (Rules 11.A.1 to 11.A.3).
What is an Erne in pickleball?
An Erne is a volley taken by a player who has moved outside the sideline, alongside the non-volley zone, usually near the net post. From there the player can hit the ball out of the air much closer to the net than anyone standing behind the kitchen line could. The result is a steep, close-range volley that opponents have very little time to react to.
The shot is named after Erne Perry. You will often see it spelled “Ernie,” but Erne is the usual spelling.
The key word is volley. If the ball bounces first, you can play it from anywhere, including inside the kitchen. The Erne matters because it lets you volley from a spot that is otherwise off limits for volleying.
Why the Erne is legal
The rule that matters is the definition of the kitchen itself. The non-volley zone is the 7-foot by 20-foot area on each side of the net, and its lines run “between the two sidelines” (Rule 3.A.4.c). All the lines that bound the zone are part of the zone, and the zone is two-dimensional: it does not extend above the playing surface.
Three things follow from that wording:
- The ground outside the sideline, beside the kitchen, is not the kitchen. It is out of bounds, and out of bounds is not part of the non-volley zone.
- The sideline next to the kitchen is the kitchen. The sideline bounds the zone along that stretch, so it counts as part of the zone. A toe on that segment of the sideline while volleying is the same as a toe in the kitchen.
- The air above the kitchen is not the kitchen. Only contact with the surface counts.
The non-volley zone rules then restrict one action, not a location. All volleys must be started outside the zone, and a player may touch the zone at any time except during the act of volleying (Rule 11.A). The rulebook defines the act of volleying as starting when the ball is hit out of the air and ending when the player’s follow-through movement stops (Section 2, “Volleying, Act of”). A player standing outside the sideline is outside the zone, so the volley is legal.
There is also no rule that keeps you on the court during a rally. Apart from the serve and the return, players may stand anywhere on their own side of the net, on or off the court (Rule 5.B.4).
What makes an Erne a fault
Most disputed Ernes come down to feet. Here are the ways the shot goes wrong, with the rule behind each.
Touching the zone or its lines while volleying. If any part of you, or anything you are wearing or carrying, touches the kitchen or its lines during the volley, it is a fault (Rule 11.A.1). That includes the sideline beside the kitchen and the corner where the kitchen line meets the sideline. It also includes your partner: if you are in contact with your partner while they touch the zone, the fault is yours.
Volleying before both feet are outside after crossing. Many Ernes start with a step through the corner of the kitchen. Stepping in is allowed. But once you have touched the zone, you may not volley until both feet have contacted the playing surface completely outside it (Rule 11.A.3). One foot out and one still on the line is a fault. So is hitting the ball while you are in the air after pushing off from inside the zone, because neither foot has landed outside yet.
Jumping over the corner. Because the zone does not extend upward, being in the air above the corner is not itself a fault. What decides the call is where your feet touch. If both feet last touched the ground outside the zone, you take off from outside it, volley in the air, and land outside it without touching the zone or its lines, nothing in Section 11 is broken. If either foot’s last contact before the jump was in the zone, Rule 11.A.3 makes the volley a fault, even if you jumped off the outside foot (the common version is one foot stepping through the corner while the other plants outside the sideline), and if you land in the zone or on its lines as part of the volley, Rule 11.A.1 or 11.A.2 does. The jump has far less margin than crossing early and setting your feet.
Momentum carrying you back in. If the momentum from your volley carries you into the zone, or into anything touching it (including your partner), it is a fault even after the ball is dead (Rule 11.A.2). This is the one fault that can happen after the rally is over (Rule 9.B.1). The rulebook says momentum ends when you regain balance and control or stop moving toward the zone (Section 2, “Momentum”). Land, stop, then walk back onto the court.
Hitting the ball before it crosses the net. The ball must fully cross to your side of the net before you hit it (Rule 13.F), and no part of you or your paddle may cross the plane of the net before contact (Rule 13.I.1.a). That plane extends beyond the posts, so standing next to the post does not let you reach past it. After you hit the ball, your follow-through may cross the plane (Rule 13.I.1).
Touching the net system or the opponent’s court. You may not touch the net or net support system while the ball is live (Rule 13.G), and you may not touch your opponents or their court (Rule 13.H). Leave yourself a little room from the post.
One practical note on calls: the non-volley zone is one of the few areas where you may call a fault on your opponent (Rule 9.B.3). If the two teams disagree about an Erne call, the rally is replayed (Rule 9.B.3.b). For the full set of kitchen rules, see the pickleball kitchen rules guide .
The Bert: an Erne on your partner’s side
A Bert is the same shot hit from outside your partner’s sideline instead of your own. You cross in front of your partner, all the way to the far side of the kitchen, and volley from beside the zone there. The rules are identical to the Erne.
The difference is cost. A Bert leaves your entire half of the court empty. It only works when your partner reads it early and slides across behind you, the same switch that makes a poach safe. Without that, a Bert that does not end the point gives the opponents a wide open lane.
How to set up an Erne, and when it is on
The Erne is a read, not a stroke. The hard part is being in place when the right ball arrives.
The ball it needs. The Erne feeds on a ball travelling along your sideline toward the net post, usually a dink from the opponent straight across from you, hit down the line.
A pattern, not a guess. Watch for an opponent who returns down the line again and again, especially from near their own sideline, where going crosscourt means a longer shot. Dinking to that opponent’s sideline can invite the down-the-line reply you want. Once you have seen the pattern two or three times, the Erne becomes a reasonable bet instead of a gamble.
Move late, but not too late. If you drift wide before your opponent commits, they see it and change direction. If you leave it too late, you end up volleying with one foot still in the kitchen. The cleanest Ernes cross the corner as the opponent’s paddle commits down the line, with both feet set outside before the ball arrives. That way you are never relying on a jump.
Take a ball you can hit down. The Erne gives you a position close to the net, not a magic shot. A ball that has dropped below net height by the time it reaches the post still has to be lifted, and a lifted volley from out of bounds is a poor trade. The same test that decides when to attack a dink rally applies here: contact at or above net height, balanced feet.
Your partner covers the middle. While you are off the court, your partner should slide toward the middle. Agree on this before the game, not during it.
How to defend against an Erne
The Erne needs a specific ball, so the best defense is not to supply it.
- Watch the drift. A player creeping toward their sideline at the kitchen line is often setting up an Erne. Notice it before the ball you were going to hit.
- Change direction. Dink crosscourt or toward the middle instead of down the line. The Erne player has committed to one lane, and a ball elsewhere makes them recover first.
- Keep dinks inside the sideline and low. A dink that lands inside the line and stays low gives the Erne player a ball that has dropped below the net by the time they can reach it.
- Use the space they left. A player standing outside the sideline is not covering the court behind them. If they leave early, a ball to the middle or into the vacated court is often the better reply.
- Watch their feet, not just the ball. A toe on the sideline beside the kitchen is a fault you are allowed to call.
Erne vs ATP: which is which?
Both happen near the net post and use the space outside the sideline, so they get mixed up. They are different shots.
| Erne | ATP (around the post) | |
|---|---|---|
| What defines it | Where the player stands | Where the ball travels |
| How the ball is hit | Out of the air (a volley) | Usually off a bounce |
| Typical trigger | A dink travelling along your sideline | A sharp crosscourt ball that pulls you wide past the post |
| Key rule | Non-volley zone ends at the sideline (3.A.4.c, 11.A) | Ball may go around the outside of the net post (13.C) |
If you want the full breakdown of the other shot, the pickleball ATP guide covers its rules, when to go for it, and how to defend it. For short definitions of the rest of the court vocabulary, from dink to tweener, see pickleball terms and definitions .
Your next step
Next session, spend one game only watching for the Erne pattern: count how many times the opponent across from you dinks down your sideline. If it happens more than a couple of times, try one Erne, crossing early and setting both feet before the ball arrives. Count the result, and count whether your partner covered the middle.
Then check the decision behind it. Knowing which ball to attack and which to let bounce is what the free Pickleball IQ test measures, and the pickleball quiz will tell you quickly whether your kitchen rule calls hold up.