Brad Coles Interview
1. How did you get into coaching
In
1985, a Brazilian friend, Ernesto d’Orsi, whom I had met in a Pan American
Invitational tournament in the seventies, was in charge of the Bermuda Bowl in
Sao Paulo, and wanted Brazil to make a great showing. There was a new young pair
on the team and Brazil hadn’t done too well in recent years, so he asked me to
come to Rio for a few weeks before the Championship and stay on to coach the
team. He knew of my interest in bidding theory and partnership and thought I
could help. It was a challenge, starting with the fact that three of the players
were former world champions and the best I had done was to lose to two of them
(M Branco/G Cintra) in the 1978 World Open Pairs final), but we hit it off very
well (the two young guys spoke almost no English and were inexperienced at the
highest levels, but were hungry to do well) and the team performed far beyond
anyone’s expectations, winning the round robin and losing to a strong USA team
on the last deal of their 160-board semifinal on a random partscore decision.
That match still gives me goosebumps every time I think of the electric
atmosphere in that Vugraph theatre. The next year, Patrick Huang invited me to
work with the Chinese Taipei team, and so my international coaching career began
to take off. Chinese Taipei also won the Round Robin in the next Bermuda Bowl.
2. What made you the best
Attrition. Or something like that. When I started there were no other serious
coaches, although in each country I visited there were excellent people who grew
into the role for their federations once they saw what a difference it could
make to get the players involved in using their bridge time wisely. Coaching is
like anything else: the more you work at it, the more you learn and the more you
can add to your program. I guess I’ve had more experience at it, so, like the
legendary Satchel Paige, I try not to look back in case the field is gaining on
me too quickly . . .
3. Is there a Kokish style
I
think so. It involves being a good listener and trying to let the players come
to their own conclusions about what’s best after exposing them to some different
ideas and perspectives. I don’t believe that lecturing works well as a means of
getting ideas across to a group of bright people who bring a wealth of their own
experience to the table. The players who are going to get better will do so when
their attitude is good, when they’re ready to see that some things don’t work as
well as others without defending an indefensible position, and when they can
appreciate that partnership and chemistry are everything once an acceptable
level of proficiency has been achieved. Coaching is a blend of marriage
counseling, therapy, and leading an ongoing search for the truth, something that
comes in a wide variety of forms once you get past the essentials of right and
wrong. I try to know as much as I can about the people I’m working with so I can
find the right openings to help them realize their potential on the strength of
their own efforts. It’s an ongoing challenge.
4. How is that different to other coaches
That’s an interesting question that I can’t really answer officially, although
I’ve tried to find out from contacts in various countries I’ve visited how other
coaches have approached their task. In many cases the other guys have focused
more on declarer play or pet conventions or a lecture style that is much less
personalized, and all I can say is that anyone who has something to offer and
can find the right package to deliver it will be providing a valuable service.
There is no manual on the trade, although I’ve often considered writing a book
about it.
5. How much difference does coaching make
My
opinion has always been that it’s the players that make the difference. A good
coach is an enabler, creating an atmosphere where the players want to work hard,
take responsibility for their actions, and grow as people and players. Without
that will on the part of the players, coaching is just an expensive way to
pretend you’re trying hard, a luxury item like a fast car or celebrity golf
tournament. A coach can make a difference if he has time to prepare his charges
for a world championship like the Bermuda Bowl, where the systems and players
are known months in advance. That’s really where I do my most meaningful work
for the Nickell team: I prepare a detailed book on each team in the round robin,
which includes systems, summaries, suggested defenses, scouting reports on the
pairs and teams, including as much recent history and personal detail as I can
gather, and a selection of deals highlighting things to look for. For the
Estoril Bermuda Bowl, my research ran to over 1500 pages for the other 21 teams
in the round robin, and took Beverly (my wife and business partner in
International Bridge Services) and me close to 600 person-hours. Each player
received a one-foot square box of binders by Federal Express about three weeks
before D-Day. Despite general bitching about having to schlep the books to
Estoril, everyone seemed to read as much of the material as they could digest.
Is this for everyone? Hardly, because it’s both expensive and extremely time
consuming, but it gives you some idea of how far the serious teams might want to
go to come to a WC prepared.
6. You have seen the OzOne squad - where do you think they can go
That’s a loaded question that can’t be answered meaningfully yet. It’s a bit
disappointing that many of Oz’s most dynamic players did not apply for OzOne and
that there are very few well-seasoned partnerships in the current squad, but for
the most part, the pairs we’ve got now seem to be internally sound and the
partners content with one another as people and guys with whom to go to war. In
some ways it’s better that there aren’t too many preconceptions that are written
in stone, but in others it’s an uphill struggle to get enough quality events
under their belts to build the experience necessary to make a run at the top.
It’s terrific that Nabil and Adam Edgtton are in the squad because their upside
is so high if they work hard and stick together, but they really are just kids
and deserve to be kids before we turn them into kangaroo soldiers.
7. How long will it take
I
could kid myself about it, but I believe we’ll need a couple of years to develop
the partnerships and get our work under our belts.
8. How are you going to go about it
Visits to Oz are very costly although we have a nice budget, so most of what
we’ll be doing the rest of this year will be done over the Internet and by
assigning work and projects that will be overseen both in Australia by Margi
Bourke and support staff and by me from afar. Apart from various overseas
missions for all squad pairs, we’ll be playing intra-squad online team matches
on BBO about twice a month (using deals I’ve culled over the past 20-odd years,
all from real play, all with something worth discussing). If all goes as
planned, we’ll have records of the matches played by OzOne pairs everywhere and
we’ll go through them. We’re intending to run simulations in Australia to test
controversial and innovative ideas we feel are worth exploring, with the
intention of developing information that OzOne can use to conquer the world.
Every little bit counts. At the moment, we’re attempting to develop a view on
pre-empting style, what works, and what doesn’t. All OzOne players are asked to
record their preempts and results on those deals on the OzOne Bulletin Board,
and we’re going to study these carefully over time. We’re also hoping to take
advantage of the expertise and special skills of Australians outside the
immediate group, those who are not on the committee or in the squad, but are
still interested in the project.
9. Do you see new players joining the OzOne squad
Absolutely. We will probably cut the squad to four or five pairs sometime later
this year, but our objective is to include the best pairs in the project at any
time, so it’s an open-ended process that will benefit from change and from
developing new talent. Somewhere down the road, we hope to work more closely
with Australian women’s teams and the juniors.
Feel
free to add any questions of your own.
10. What would you consider a good performance in the first year?
A
medal in Verona, a team in the semis in Dallas or Chicago, first or second in
the PABF with an all OzOne team, consistent performances in Australian events by
all pairs, a report from everyone that they believe they’re improving. That
would make for a happy coach.
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