Most players see the Erne for the first time and assume it is illegal. It is not. The Erne is one of the most spectacular shots in pickleball, and when executed correctly, it is completely within the rules. The confusion is understandable. Watching someone leap around the net post and smash a ball from outside the court boundaries looks like it should violate something. It does not.
So what exactly is going on? The Erne is a volley hit from outside the court, beyond the net post, while the player is standing or jumping in the air beside the kitchen. Done right, it is a legal, tournament-approved shot that gives the hitting player a dramatically better angle and almost no reaction time for the opponent. Done wrong, it is a fault. The line between the two comes down to one specific rule.
Why Do Most Players Think the Erne Is Illegal?
The confusion comes from the non-volley zone. Players learn early that you cannot volley the ball while standing in the kitchen or stepping into it on the follow-through. The Erne looks like a kitchen violation because the player is right at the edge of the NVZ, close to or airborne above it, reaching across to strike the ball.
What players miss is that the Erne does not happen in the kitchen. It happens beside it. The player moves around the net post and establishes position outside the court entirely, past the sideline. From that position, they are no longer subject to the NVZ rules. The kitchen is behind them.
What the Erne Actually Is
Erne Perry first popularized the shot at a tournament in 2010, and players started calling it the Erne after him. However, the inventor of the highly-effective shot is John Dixon, who first unleashed it in a 1994 tournament.
The mechanics: a player reads that an opponent is about to hit a ball close to the sideline. Instead of waiting at the kitchen line, they move quickly toward the net post, step or jump outside the court boundaries beyond the post, and volley the ball from that position before it crosses back to their side. Because they are standing outside the court rather than inside the NVZ, the volley is legal.
The shot works because it compresses the angle sharply. A ball that looks like it has a safe path down the line suddenly has nowhere to go. At the recreational level, it also tends to be psychologically destabilizing: most players have never seen it coming, and their head snaps sideways watching the ball disappear past them before they can react.
The Rule That Makes or Breaks It
This is where players get it wrong in practice. The Erne is legal only if the player is legally established outside the NVZ when the volley occurs.
Under USA Pickleball Rule 9.B, all volleys must be initiated outside the non-volley zone. It is a fault if a player touches the NVZ or carries momentum into it during the act of volleying. A player may legally move around the net post and volley from beyond the sideline, provided their feet are established outside the NVZ at the moment of contact.
In plain English: You can legally go around the net post and volley the ball from outside the court (beyond the sideline). What you cannot do is initiate the volley while touching the non-volley zone (NVZ/kitchen) or while your momentum is carrying you from inside it. Your feet must be fully established outside the sideline before you make contact with the ball, not just land outside afterward.
The most common illegal version happens when a player rushes toward the kitchen, plants a foot in or near the NVZ, and tries to reach around the post for the shot. That is a fault the moment foot contact with the kitchen occurs before or during the volley (including follow-through and momentum).
The other common illegal version: jumping from inside the kitchen (or pushing off from inside it) to execute the shot, then landing outside. The rules require that the volley be initiated from outside the NVZ.
The One Test That Makes This Rule Stick
Before the ball crosses the net, where are your feet?
If you are airborne or grounded outside the court, past the sideline, you are legal. If you are still inside the court or in contact with the NVZ, you are not. That is the entire rule. Everything else about the Erne is just athleticism.
A useful way to picture it: the kitchen is off-limits for volleys. The area beyond the net post is not the kitchen. It is outside the court, which means the NVZ rules do not apply there. You have stepped out of the problem entirely, literally.
Is the Erne Legal If the Player Jumps from Behind the Kitchen Line?
This argument comes up constantly. Player A says the Erne was illegal because they saw the hitter jump from the kitchen area. Player B says they were behind the line and landed outside, so it was fine.
The volley cannot begin while the player is in the NVZ. The moment of contact is what matters, not the landing.
That means Player B is right only if their feet were clearly behind the NVZ line at the moment they pushed off to jump, and they made contact with the ball while airborne outside the court. If they pushed off from inside the kitchen or from the line itself, it is a fault regardless of where they landed. The shot has to originate from a legal position. The landing is not the test. Contact is.
The Erne is one of pickleball’s most exciting legal shots. For a deeper look at the rules that make shots like this possible, visit our pickleball rules knowledge base.