What Is a Bert in Pickleball?

Quick Answer: A Bert in pickleball is an advanced shot where a player crosses in front of their partner and leaps beside the kitchen on the partner’s side of the court to volley the ball. It’s an Erne executed on your partner’s half, combining a poach with an around-the-kitchen attack.

A Bert is a volley hit from outside the sideline, beyond or over the kitchen, on your partner’s side of the court. If that sentence made you squint, start with its famous sibling: the Erne, where a player attacks from beside their own sideline. Cross the court and do it in front of your partner instead, and the Erne becomes a Bert. Yes, the names are a Sesame Street joke, and yes, the pickleball community committed to it fully.

How Is a Bert Different from an Erne?

The geometry is identical and the starting point is what changes. In an Erne, the right-side player attacks beside the right sideline, staying on their own half. In a Bert, the left-side player sprints across the court and executes that same sideline attack on the right side, in front of their partner. One shot stays home, the other commutes.

Both shots exploit the same loophole in kitchen geography: the non-volley zone is only 7 feet deep and stops at the sideline. The court outside the sideline is fair ground for your feet. A player standing out there, next to the net but beyond the kitchen’s edge, may legally volley from practically on top of the net, hitting sharply downward at a range dinks were never meant to survive.

Is a Bert Legal?

Fully legal, provided three conditions hold at the moment you volley:

• Your feet and body must not be touching the kitchen or its lines.
• You must not touch the net, the net posts, or your opponent’s court.
• You must contact the ball on your side of the net’s plane, though your follow-through may cross after contact.

Jumping the corner of the kitchen is fine as long as you launch and land clear of the zone. Getting any of it wrong is a plain fault, and momentum rules apply the same as on any volley.

There’s no rule against being on your partner’s side, which is the question people actually mean when they ask if the Bert is legal. Partners may position anywhere. The Bert is essentially the most theatrical poach in the sport.

When Would Anyone Hit a Bert?

The setup is a predictable crosscourt dink. Picture opponents locked in a crosscourt dink rally, your partner on the right trading diagonals with the opponent across from them. Those dinks travel the same path over the right sideline area again and again. If you, the left-side player, read one coming, you can sneak behind your partner, time the leap, and pick the dink out of the air at net height before it ever bounces. The opponent who hit it was aiming at a dink partner 22 feet away and suddenly faces a volley from 3.

It’s a high-risk, high-theater play. Succeed and the point usually ends immediately, plus opponents start flinching on every crosscourt dink afterward, which has strategic value all by itself. Fail, and your entire half of the court is empty behind you. I’ve attempted exactly two Berts in my life. One winner, one air ball with a side of pulled hamstring, which feels like the honest career ratio for most rec players.

Should You Learn the Bert?

Learn the Erne first. Every skill in the Bert lives in the Erne, minus the full-court sprint, and the Erne arrives far more often in real games. Once your Erne timing is reliable, the Bert is the same read plus commitment and a conversation with your partner, who needs to know that when you go, they slide across to cover the vacated side. Without that agreement, the Bert is just abandoning your post with style.

Footwork and timing for both shots are exactly the kind of thing worth drilling with an instructor, and coaches and clinics in the directory increasingly teach Erne and Bert setups as standard advanced curriculum. Watching high-level tournament play is the other free education, since pros telegraph the setups if you know what to look for.

FAQ

Why is it called a Bert?

It’s named as the partner to the Erne, which was named after player Erne Perry. Since the shots are inseparable pairs, the community reached for Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street.

Is the Bert legal in tournament play?

Yes. It’s legal under USA Pickleball rules at every level, provided the player avoids the kitchen while volleying, doesn’t touch the net, and contacts the ball on their own side of the net plane.

Can you land in the kitchen after hitting a Bert?

No. Landing in the non-volley zone, or touching its lines, as part of the volleying motion is a fault. You must launch and land completely clear of the zone.

What’s the difference between a Bert and a poach?

A poach is any interception of your partner’s ball, usually through the middle. A Bert is a specific poach executed as a sideline leap beside or over the kitchen corner on your partner’s side.

Who covers the court during a Bert?

The partner does. A Bert only works as a team play where the partner slides across to cover the attacker’s abandoned half. Without that rotation, half the court sits open.

What shot sets up a Bert?

A predictable, slightly high crosscourt dink is the classic trigger. Repetitive dink patterns give the crossing player time to read the ball and start the run early.

Is the Bert worth it for recreational players?

Occasionally, and mostly for fun. It’s a low-percentage play that demands athleticism and partner coordination. The Erne delivers most of the same payoff with half the risk.

Written by the Pickler Junction Team.