August 19, 2024
Coach Mo (2nd from left) after winning the silver medal in men’s 35+ in 2010 at the USAPA Nationals in Buckeye, AZ
Richard Movsessian was twice as old as most of his opponents in the 35+ men’s doubles tournament at the 2010 USAPA Nationals in Arizona. He and his partner, then the top-ranked player Phil Bagley, were among 32 teams competing. Their opponents consistently picked on the senior citizen.
“Since Phil was 42 and I was 70 with grey hair, they saw me as the guy to hit to,” Movsessian told me.
Movsessian’s team won silver.
“I kept every ball to their toes,” Movsessian said. “I hit high percentage shots: 80% down the middle to backhand, made very few unforced errors, and waited patiently for our opponents to accidentally hit a ball high to Phil. I gave our opponents a chance to lose. I knew if I didn't lose the point, we would win it,” Movsessian said. “A team is only as strong as its weaker player.”
That all sounds like tips you’d get from a pickleball instructor, which Movsessian has been for 20 years. Better known as “Coach Mo,” he’s given lessons to thousands of players and has been voted one of the three best coaches in the US by the prestigious PBX Club.
Richard Movsessian grew up in Boston so it’s no surprise that hockey was his first love. He played in high school and at Boston University. After college he taught physical education for 30 years at North Middlesex Regional High School and coached boys hockey and tennis and girls field hockey. He was highly regarded as a hockey mentor and was among a dozen coaches chosen to help the 1980 US Mens Olympic hockey team head coach Herb Brooks during tryouts. That of course was the group of college kids that went on to shock the Soviet Union en route to winning the gold medal, the outcome known as “The Miracle on Ice.”
Coach Mo began playing tennis when he was 35. “I took up tennis for exercise during the summer months. I became addicted to tennis,” he said. Naturally, he became a certified tennis instructor.
He and his wife of 58 years, Jeanne, moved in 2005 to The Villages in Florida. “We became hooked on pickleball,” Coach Mo said. “New acquaintances learned that I was a tennis teaching pro and asked for tips on their [pickleball] backstrokes, volley strokes, etc. So, I started giving free pickleball lessons every Monday for the next 19 years. People visiting The Villages and snowbirds would ask me to travel up north and out west to give pickleball clinics to their clubs. I gave many clinics in 20 states.”
He coached three national pickleball champions, including the aforementioned Bagley. Pickleball Hall of Famer Steve Paranto met Coach Mo at the 2010 Nationals. Paranto told me, “I was very impressed that a coach that had been playing [pickleball] only a very few years understood percentages and shot selection. I believe that since he had experience coaching many sports, including hockey, he understood strategies and percentages.”
Comparing tennis to pickleball, Coach Mo says one reason older folks love pickleball is, “A paddle is not as long as a tennis racquet, so your ball contact point is much closer to your hand, which makes the game easier to learn. The pickleball court is smaller, which helps older players cover the playing area.”
For all you rec players with a rating of around 3.5 (like me), who make too many unforced errors (like me), I asked Coach Mo for advice.
“The three biggest mistakes a 3.5 player makes are: 1) They do not play from the non-volley zone line as much as possible. 2) They do not keep the ball down the middle of the court 80 percent of the time. They try too many angle shots. 3) They do not aim their shots at their opponents' feet. Preferably to their backhand foot. They should make their opponents hit up on the ball.”
In an email, Coach Mo wrote: “You do not want to sacrifice placement for power. Only hit the ball as fast as you can [and still] be accurate and CONSISTENT.
“Punch your volleys if you are older. Don't swing at them. Unforced errors decide who wins or loses the game at every level of play.
“Split step at the point of contact of your opponent's hitting the ball. You will be more consistent.
“The power game verses the soft game: This depends on your ability and age. Make a book on yourself and use whichever works best for you. Power causes a lot of mistakes unless you practice a lot. Home run hitters have a lower batting average. They strike out often. They make home runs occasionally.”
Erne Perry has known Coach Mo for years. Perry is a legendary pickleball player; the “Erne” shot is named after him. Perry says Coach Mo “has given hundreds of free lessons in The Villages in Florida and has an incredible reputation of a generous and knowledgeable teacher. Most everyone else was charging for lessons and he just wanted to promote the game of pickleball, so he was giving them for free. I would bet he has coached over 1000 players by now. I can't say enough about the man and what he means for the pickleball world.”
Coach Mo has written two books, How to Play Pickleball from A-Z (some reviewers call it “The Bible of Pickleball”), and Simplified Strategies and Techniques of Pickleball.
These days Coach Mo is concerned about the rise of potentially dangerous power paddles causing injuries and affecting other aspects of game play.
“My concern with more powerful paddles is the points won't last as long as they do now. Players would not have as much fun. There were paddles in the past that were too powerful. USAPA started testing paddles to make sure they were not too powerful [and recently decertified several]. If you have the fastest growing sport in the world, then the USAPA should be very careful as to what they change. If the USA Pickleball Association continues to test paddle power properly, the game of pickleball will continue to be the fastest growing sport in the world.”
And on pickleball courts throughout the world, there will be players who learned the game, or honed their skills, thanks to a man called “Coach Mo.”
Overheard at the courts:“She plays back by the baseline the entire game. I don’t know if she’s afraid of the ball or doesn’t know how to play. She doesn’t ask me for advice so I don’t feel comfortable giving it.”
My thoughts of the week, not all pickleball
I think it’s absurd that break dancing is an Olympic sport but pickleball isn’t. Olympic officials added breaking for this year’s recently concluded games because they said they want to attract a younger and more diverse audience. There’s no way you’re going to convince me that break dancing is more popular than pickleball worldwide.
Speaking of the Olympics, I believe pickleball will eventually be added to the games. A major obstacle is that there are three pickleball governing bodies and the Olympics requires one. As I wrote here recently, Seymour Rifkind of Illinois, President of the World Pickleball Federation and a member of the Pickleball Hall of Fame, is leading an effort to merge the three governing bodies. However, Rifkind told me last Thursday that the Global Pickleball Federation has refused to agree to a merger. Hopefully, greed, egos and politics won’t stop pickleball from becoming an Olympic sport someday. Unfortunately, I think it’s too late to happen for the 2028 games in Los Angeles.
I recently watched an excellent four-part documentary on Pete Rose on MAX (formerly HBO). Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader was banned from baseball for life for betting on major league games, including those involving his own Cincinnati Reds when he was their player-manager. He denied it for five years until he had a book to sell. The documentary catches Rose in more lies. I don’t think he belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. And I don’t believe steroid users should be allowed in. It is a baseball player’s highest honor and I think those who broke the rules don’t deserve enshrinement.
For my fellow TV trivia nuts of shows from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s: I don’t see sitcoms anymore with great theme songs. My favorite theme songs: Green Acres, Gilligan’s Island, The Jeffersons and The Beverly Hillbillies. In that order. My favorite sitcoms of all-time: The Honeymooners, Seinfeld and All in the Family. In that order. People of a certain age know the brilliance of The Honeymooners and its significance in sitcom history.
A fellow senior doubles player and I recently lost a rec game 11-5 to a couple of young bangers. Fifteen minutes later our four paddles were in the same stack and the young guns asked if we wanted to split up. I said no and told my fellow senior citizen, “Let’s not get caught up banging with them. We can’t beat them at their own game. Let’s dink everything.” We kept everything low and soft. The bangers hit a lot of net balls and out balls. We won the rematch, 11-5.
My column last Monday on a viral video by a top instructor titled Stop Saying Sorry prompted many comments in pickleball groups on Facebook. I agree with the instructor Kevin Beeson and the mental toughness coach I interviewed, that saying “Sorry” after you hit a bad shot is unnecessary (unless you body bagged an opponent, but that’s not the point of the video). Personally, I feel hey, if saying “Sorry” makes you feel better, knock yourself out. I don’t want or need them to say it. I know they feel bad, as if they let me down. As Beeson says, “No one ever purposely hits a bad shot, so stop saying ‘Sorry.”
I love college football and can’t wait for the upcoming season. The new 12-team playoff is long overdue and will increase fan interest. I’m also excited as always about the NFL season, although I’m worried that my Jets don’t have enough offense.
Hudef’s two newest paddles have received excellent reviews. If you buy the all-court Mage Pro Gen2 or the powerful Viva Pro Gen3, use my discount code, MS30, for 30 percent off the retail price of $169.99, knocking it down to $119.
