Interrater Reliability Aspects of the Pickleball Serve Penetration Test

The serve penetration test has been used in tennis to assess the approximate skill level of a player. While similar to tennis, pickleball is less studied. We adapted the serve penetration test to the pickleball court. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to assess interposition reliability, interrater reliability, and intertarget reliability of the adapted pickleball serve penetration test. METHODS: For the pickleball serve penetration test, there were four different targets that the subject aimed for, located on the left and right corners, as well as the left and right middle of the court. Each target had four different scoring values associated with them, zero, one, three, and five. The score was based on the second bounce of each serve. At each target, the subject performed 15 serves with the goal of accumulating the highest score possible. Eight raters simultaneously scored the test. Four stood to the side and four stood at the diagonal. The raters rotated positions in each set so that all raters scored at every position for the test. RESULTS: The ICC for overall interrater reliability was 0.868. When raters stood at the side, the ICC was 0.852. When raters were at the diagonal, the ICC was 0.835. We saw a significant difference in interrater reliability between the targets (p = 0.0001). Specifically, the right middle had a lower ICC of 0.759. The other targets ranged from an ICC of 0.831 to 0.922. CONCLUSION: While there was a notable decrease in interrater reliability when aiming for the right middle target, there was still overall good interrater reliability for the pickleball serve penetration test. The two corner targets even demonstrated excellent reliability. Adjustments to the positions of the raters may help increase reliability of scoring the middle targets.