Pregnancy doesn’t automatically mean your pickleball days are on hold for nine months.
We’ve even seen professional players compete while pregnant. Lindsey Newman famously won mixed doubles gold with her brother Riley at the 2021 USA Pickleball National Championships while 6 ½ months pregnant. More recently, Tammy Emmrich stepped onto an MLP court for a Dreambreaker while 4 ½ months pregnant.
Of course, what a professional athlete does during her pregnancy isn’t a blueprint for everyone else. Every pregnancy is different, and whether you continue playing should be a conversation with your healthcare provider.
Is It Safe to Play Pickleball While Pregnant?
For people with healthy, uncomplicated pregnancies, physical activity is generally encouraged. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, and people who were already active before becoming pregnant can often continue exercising with their provider’s approval.
There isn’t much research specifically on pickleball during pregnancy, so there isn’t a magic week when everyone should stop playing. Unlike walking or riding a stationary bike, pickleball involves quick stops, side-to-side movement, reaching and lunging—all movements that can become more challenging as pregnancy progresses.
Research shows that pregnancy can affect balance, joint stability, foot shape and how your body responds to exercise.
How Pregnancy Can Affect Your Pickleball Game
Even if you still feel like yourself, your body is doing a lot of work behind the scenes. Some changes begin surprisingly early in pregnancy.
Balance and Movement
Pregnancy can affect your balance and even the way you move, which you may notice when reaching wide for a dink, stopping quickly at the kitchen or changing direction after getting pulled out of position.
This is where playing smarter becomes more important than chasing everything. If you’re beginning to stumble, feel uneasy stopping quickly or don’t trust yourself moving backward, start taking those shots out of your game.
And yes, this may be permission to let your partner get the lob.
Joint Stability
Hormonal and physical changes during pregnancy can make your joints—particularly your ankles, knees, hips and pelvis—feel looser or less stable. Hard cuts, deep lunges and planting one foot while twisting may become uncomfortable or feel less controlled.
Smaller steps and turning your whole body instead of planting and twisting can make movement easier.
Your feet may change during pregnancy, too. Research has found changes in foot length and arch height that can sometimes stick around afterward, so this is not the time to stubbornly squeeze into court shoes that suddenly feel too tight.
Endurance
You can look exactly the same and still notice that your usual three-hour open play suddenly feels like a lot.
Rather than worrying about hitting a specific heart-rate number, ACOG recommends paying attention to effort. A simple way to think about it: you should still feel like you’re controlling the pace, not hanging on for dear life.
That might mean shorter sessions, longer breaks or calling it after three games when Past You would’ve signed up for three more.
Hydration and Heat
ACOG recommends drinking water before, during and after exercise and avoiding excessive heat and humidity. Take more water breaks than you normally would, shorten your session when necessary and don’t hesitate to head indoors when the weather isn’t cooperating.
Playing Pickleball During Each Trimester
How long and how intensely you play will depend on your experience level, pregnancy, symptoms, and how you’re moving—not how many weeks pregnant you are.
First Trimester: Listen to Your Energy Levels
For some regular players, the first trimester may look relatively normal on court. Your balance may not have changed much yet, but fatigue, nausea and heat intolerance can show up early.
If your healthcare provider has cleared you to exercise and you’re feeling good, moderate recreational play may still feel comfortable.
A few adjustments can make it easier:
- Give yourself a longer warm-up
- Take breaks sooner instead of waiting until you’re exhausted
- Choose doubles or shorter sessions when you want to reduce the physical demand
Second Trimester: Start Reducing Court Coverage
This is often when modifying your actual movement becomes more important.
As your belly grows and your balance changes, you may want to cover less court and become pickier about which balls you chase.
This is also where having the right doubles partner helps. Tell them what’s changing. Let them take more middle balls, track down lobs and cover anything that would require you to sprint or make an awkward last-second reach.
You may also want to start backing away from:
- Jumping for overheads
- Running backward after lobs
- Deep emergency lunges
- Sharp cuts and pivots
- Any movement that suddenly feels unstable or uncomfortable
Some balls aren’t worth getting. Frankly, that’s decent pickleball advice even when you’re not pregnant.
Third Trimester: Think Skills Over Scrambling
By the third trimester, your pickleball might look less like competitive open play and more like controlled time on the court.
If it still feels good and your healthcare provider is comfortable with you playing, stationary dinking, volleys, serving practice, and controlled drills keep you involved without requiring you to scramble around the court.
If you continue playing games, let how you’re moving guide you more than the number of weeks you’ve been pregnant. Can you stop comfortably, change direction without losing your balance and recover after a shot? Once those things stop feeling controlled, full-court play probably isn’t serving you anymore.
When Should You Stop Playing Pickleball During Pregnancy?
Some symptoms mean it’s time to get off the court and call your healthcare provider. ACOG lists vaginal bleeding, painful contractions, leaking fluid, dizziness, chest pain, unusual shortness of breath before exercising, significant weakness, and calf pain or swelling among the warning signs to stop exercising during pregnancy. More severe symptoms, including fainting, heavy bleeding, severe abdominal pain, major trouble breathing, vision changes, or decreased fetal movement, may require more urgent medical attention.
On the court, stop if your balance suddenly feels off, a joint feels unstable, you experience significant pain or you no longer feel confident controlling your movement.
If you fall or take a direct hit to your abdomen while playing, call your prenatal care team for individualized guidance rather than just getting back into the game.
Returning to Pickleball After Pregnancy
Recovery depends on your pregnancy, delivery, healing, pelvic floor, core strength, and any complications. Being cleared for general exercise also doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ready for a weekend tournament.
Think of returning as rebuilding your pickleball game one layer at a time:
Serve → dinks and volleys → controlled drills → half-court rallies → modified doubles → unrestricted doubles → singles and competition
Before adding harder court movement, pay attention to how your body handles impact, side-to-side movement and stopping. Pain, pelvic heaviness or pressure, leaking, instability, unusual bleeding or symptoms that get worse after playing are all reasons to back off and talk with your healthcare provider.
Singles will survive without you for a little longer.
Can You Keep Playing Pickleball While Pregnant?
If you have a healthy pregnancy, were already playing before becoming pregnant and have your healthcare provider’s approval, you may be able to keep pickleball in your routine with adjustments along the way.
What feels completely comfortable at 10 weeks may feel very different at 30. Listen to your body, communicate with your doubles partner and adjust your game as your balance, energy and movement change.
Continuing to play pickleball during pregnancy doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Sometimes it just means finding a version of the game that works for the body you’re playing in right now.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and postpartum recovery is different. Talk with your healthcare provider before starting, continuing or returning to pickleball during or after pregnancy.
