What each piece asks of you before a match
Picture the ten minutes before you leave for the court. With a dress, you pull one thing over your head and the outfit is done: the bra is inside it, the shorts are sewn to it, and the pockets ride on those shorts. Your bag still needs water, grips and a towel, but not a second layer of clothing.
A skort asks one more question. It covers the bottom half, with a pleated skirt over its own inner shorts, and leaves the top to you. If your drawer is full of tanks you already like, that is a freedom. On a rushed morning, it is one more decision.
Support, and the bra you cannot size separately
The bra in the PERSIT dress is part of the dress, so it comes in the dress size. You pick that size by your bust, and the bra follows. The straps adjust and cross at the back, which lets you set the height of the bra without changing the size.
That also means you cannot choose a different cup and keep the same dress. If you want more hold for a long match, wear your own sports bra under it. The skort sidesteps the question completely: the top half, and whatever support you prefer, stays yours.
The shorts underneath when you lunge
Both pieces have shorts, and the difference is length. The dress shorts have a 3-inch inseam in every size, from XS to XXL. The skort shorts run 3.5 to 4 inches and add a triangle gusset, the small diamond of fabric where the leg seams meet, which is there to stop them riding up.
On a wide lunge or a high toss, a skirt lifts. What matters is what sits underneath it. In the dress, the skirt and the shorts are one piece, so there is no second waistband to shift when you reach. In the skort, the skirt moves on its own over shorts that stay where the band holds them.
Pockets, and where the second ball goes
Plenty of players serve with the second ball already on them, and this is where the two pieces really differ. The skort has three pockets with separate jobs: the second ball goes in the pocket on the left leg, a phone in the pocket on the right, and a key or a card in the hidden pocket inside the waistband.
The dress keeps its pockets on the built-in shorts, under the skirt. They take a phone or a ball, and you reach under the hem to get to them. If you like to pull the ball out without looking down between first and second serve, try that motion with a ball in your own hand before you decide.
Sizing each one
The two pieces are sized by different measurements, so measure both before you order a set.
- The dress goes by your bust. On our chart a medium covers a bust of 35.4 to 37.4 inches, so a 36-inch bust is a medium. Then check that your hip is not at the top of the next size, because the built-in shorts have to fit too.
- The skort goes by your waist. A 28-inch waist sits in the medium range of 27.5 to 29.5 inches. The drawcord inside the band fine-tunes a size that already fits and will not take a size in.
- The dress length changes with the size. It runs from 30.9 inches in XS to 34.6 inches in XXL, so on a taller frame the hem lands higher on the thigh.
Our size guide has both charts in full, with hip and inseam columns.
Choosing by the way you play
If you play league matches twice a week and want to arrive ready, the dress is the simpler habit. It is also one item in the wash instead of two, which matters more by August than it does in April.
If you already own good tops, play in mixed weather, or want the ball pocket on your leg, the skort earns its place. You may find that one of each covers the week: the dress for match days, the skort for practice, when a spare top in the bag costs nothing.
Check the color rule of your club before either. A club that asks for white means the whole outfit, and we cover that in what an all-white dress code asks of you.
A question about a size or a color? Write to baseline@persit.org, and the people at PERSIT will answer.