When you play pickleball, it is essential to wear pickleball shoes with non-marking soles while on the court to preserve its surface quality. Regular shoes can cause damage to the pickleball court due to the intense movements and pressure exerted during play, resulting in scratches and marks.

Non-marking sole shoes are characterized by their flat, moderately soft soles without cleats and minimal tread patterns, ensuring they do not leave marks on the court surface. While most non-marking soles come in non-black or white colors, exceptions can be made for black soles with appropriate textures that meet the non-marking criteria.

Non-Marking Shoes: Material that is soft with minimal or flat texture.

Marking Shoes: Material that is hard with cleats or deep texture.

✅ Example Of Non-Marking Shoes

Soft material with minimal or flat texture

❌ Example Of Marking Shoes

Hard material with cleats or deep texture

Additional ways of identifying if your shoe is a non-marking shoe or not

1. Flip your shoe and use your fingernail to press the sole. If the sole is dented, then your shoe is most likely to be a non-marking shoe and the sole is soft and won’t cause any marks.

2. Take a white paper and place it on the floor. Try rubbing the shoe sole on the paper. Take the paper now and check for scuff marks. If there are no marks on the paper, then your shoe is a non-marking shoe.

— Courtesy of Sheryl Thomas

To play on More Than Pickleball's courts, we kindly ask that you wear non-marking shoes. If you have any questions please contact our front desk by calling (865) 602-9989 or emailing info@morethanpball.com.