Rule Change Recap:
Effective September 1, 1997
The racquet's maximum length has been increased to 22 inches.
[Rule 2.4(a)]

If you hit the ball out-of-court (or just out-of-play), you lose the rally. This also includes hitting the serve out-of-court.
[Rule 3.13 (c) 3]

In officiated tournament play [with line judges] ... Players may now appeal every call or "non-call" by the referee (except for technical fouls and forfeitures) whenever line judges are used.
["Officiating" section B.7 Appeals, citation (a)]

The referee can declare a "sideout" when their call of encroachment is overturned, AND the return of serve was considered irretrievable. For example ... You short-hop a return and roll it out. The ref says you were over the safety line and you appeal. You win your appeal and, instead of a replay, you get to keep your rollout. Side out. You serve.
["Officiating" section B.8 Outcome of Appeals, citation (e)]

WHAT'S THE CALL? Rulebook Revision
by Otto Dietrich

As the new racquetball season begins, I'm very happy to announce the publication of a revised rulebook for the sport. It's certainly changed enough from previous editions that I highly recommend that you take a few minutes to read it.

The new rules — effective September 1
As you probably know by now, the racquet's maximum length has been increased to 22 inches. In addition to the longer racquets, the appeal process now allows for every call or "non-call" by the referee (except for technical fouls and forfeitures) to be appealed if there are line judges. If you hit the ball out-of-court (or just out-of-play), you lose the rally immediately. This also includes hitting the serve out-of-court. Another, less apparent change now allows the referee to declare a "sideout" in those instances where the receiver is called for encroachment, but that call is overturned on appeal and the referee considers the return of serve to have been an irretrievable shot.

Rules & Modifications vs. Policies & Procedures
But if you've already looked at the revised rulebook, I'm sure that you'll notice that we have also completely re-organized it too. You'll find that all of the basic singles rules for actually playing the game are now in the first three sections of the book. While there is still some mention of doubles teams and partners in these three sections where appropriate, nearly all of the special rules affecting doubles play are now contained in a separate follow-up section devoted solely to doubles.

Following the doubles section is a series of special sections which describe the various rule modifications designed to accommodate special playing circumstances, such as one-serve, multi-bounce, wheelchair games and the pro tours. Then, totally separate from the rules for playing racquetball, you'll find all of the policies and procedures governing competition, such as tournament policies and referee procedures.

The primary reason for separating playing rules from competition policies and procedures (aside from it being logical) was to more clearly distinguish those matters covered by the normal rule change procedures (the playing rules), from those that can be changed merely by a vote of the National Board of Directors (the competition policies and procedures.)

While the separation in this edition of the rulebook comes close to achieving that goal, what still remains to be done is to identify those issues in the policy and procedure section that clearly should also be covered by the normal rule change procedures, like the number of appeals, etc. In future editions of the rulebook, we plan to highlight these items so they are evident to all.

I sincerely hope that you'll find this revised rulebook an improvement over past editions and that it helps make your game more enjoyable! But if there are any questions that remain, remember you can always ask Otto: "What's the Call?"

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