The Cookie Jar: The Open Space Your Opponent Left Unguarded. Pickleball Has Named This After Dessert.

The cookie jar is a term in pickleball for the open space left by an opponent who is not covering the sideline properly. If your opponent has drifted toward the center, or is out of position, the sideline area they have vacated is called the cookie jar. You are encouraged to hit into the cookie jar. The cookie jar is where you want to put the ball.

The Final Accounting

We have now completed our survey of pickleball's food-based vocabulary, and we want to offer a final accounting. The kitchen: a zone. The pickle: a shutout. The falafel: a dead shot. The flapjack: a mandatory bounce. The dillball: a live ball after a bounce. The cookie jar: an open space on the court.

"We have not invented any of this. Every term in this article is real, in active use, and considered part of the legitimate vocabulary of a sport played by millions of people."

We want to be clear that we have not invented any of this. Every term in this article is real, in active use, and considered part of the legitimate vocabulary of a sport played by millions of people across the United States and increasingly around the world. We are journalists. We report what we find. What we found, in this case, was a cookie jar. We are putting this in it.