Pickleball pro treats players with clinics, exhibitions

Pickleball pro Scott Moore, right, conducts his second pickleball clinic yesterday morning at the American Memorial Park courts during his first visit to Saipan.(LEIGH GASES)

Pickleball pro Scott Moore treated CNMI pickleball players with a two-day clinic, some tips, and exhibition games at the American Memorial Park courts during the Memorial Day weekend.

Moore made it safely to Saipan via South Korea last Friday just as Typhoon Mawar left a wake of destruction in Guam and just barely spared Saipan. He was supposed to hold a few clinics on Guam as well but had to cancel it until next time and was invited here by the Pickleball Federation of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

After his first pickleball clinic on Sunday evening with eight pickleball players, Moore gave a few tips to the star-struck pickleball players at the courts as their games were delayed due to rain.

Moore said of Saipan’s level of play, “They’re not bad. People are taking it seriously and getting better.” His son, Daniel, held clinics in March and Scott said, “He had told me everybody was a little bit new, but I felt like they are pretty good… There’s a lot of intense, really teachable people, so I thought that was good.”

Pickleball pro Scott Moore, standing right, gives tips to pickleball players after his first clinic last Sunday evening as they wait out the rain at the American Memorial Park courts.(LEIGH GASES)

On the players who took his first clinic, he said “Everybody’s very enthusiastic. Unfortunately, we had a little rain, but I got to teach them more strategy than normal—not as much technique, but strategy—because in the long run, I think it’s maybe more helpful to learn the strategy—the mental side. Pickleball is so mental, so strategic.”

“They were asking great questions, very curious, wanting to learn. So I felt like their level of concentration and intake was really high. They had good questions,” he said.

As for the future of pickleball in the Marianas based on what he saw in his time here, he said “it’s going to keep growing and growing, but they need more courts. Hopefully the government will help or something. It’s going to bring tourism from all over the world. People are happier and healthier, so I hope the Saipan government will also contribute and help create more courts, because that’s one of the barriers to growth—you need more courts.”

Pastor Eric Abragan, who has been playing pickleball for less than a year, said the clinic was a great learning experience. “We got to learn from a pro and from a champion. So, it was very practical, about 10 tips and something that you may have learned before but a lot are new also.”

“What stood out to me was his tip about the drop shots and then helping me win the shots after, because that’s one of our weaknesses,” he said.

As for Bart Jackson, he said “the clinic was great. I’ve been playing pickleball regularly for a year now and you can obviously learn a lot by playing… but it was great to hear a pro talk about the game in very different terms about the strategic part of the game, which nobody ever talks about. If you really want to be a better player, you have to incorporate that into your game.

Just hitting a drop shot or a dink shot is great, but if you don’t hit it to the right place, it doesn’t do you any good. So the strategy of it is what I learned so much and just to hear him talk about what’s important to be a good pickleball player is really so useful.”

T.J. Hill, who took the clinic with his wife, said “there was no shortage of good information, good demonstration, and good feedback as he watched us practice and go through the drills.” As for being coached by a pro, he said “it doesn’t get any better than this. His son Daniel was here before and we had the opportunity to do the clinic with him also, so we got both sides—we got the best of both worlds here. A lot of the things that Daniel did in his clinic were reinforced in Scott’s clinic.” 

Moore, who’s 61 years old, has been playing pickleball for the past 12 years. He is widely regarded as the No. 1 senior male player in the world. In 2018, he and his son Daniel won the 19+ division at the Northwest Regional tournament in Bend, Oregon, and less than a month later, he and his son Jon won the Italian Open.

He has won six Triple Crowns, 20 USAPA Nationals gold medals, and 12 U.S. Open gold medals. He leaves Saipan today but plans on returning again.