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@ To all candidates :

I've listed two candidate for the post this year : Arbelon and Siam. To help voters and to be the more transparent as possible, what is your program for the Prathet Thai U21 ?

The basic Idea is simple but demands a lot of hard work:

First, Scouting. Finding the right players for the Asia Championship, and finding all the possible players for years to come, ages 18-20. Obviously, I won't do the scouting along, because it will be almost imposibble and also to let other coaches who want to experience. I will love to have a scout who has a team in the league.

Second, T&T - Training and Tactics. In order to get better we have to train our greatest potentials the right way. A point guard with no handling but great Jump Shot, won't need Jump shot training. Every coach in Thai and around the world who has A national team player will be in close touch with me and my scouts. The training will be good for his team of course but also good for the neccessities of the National Team (By the way, in my opinion older NT players need training too).
Tactics are for the championship. Each national rival will be put under a microscope and we will find the right combination of offense and defence to get a W. I love the element of surprise, but I will probably stick to my team's strong points and the rival team's weak points.
Training and Tactics have to work together. One of the greatest advantages a team can have is better Game Shape. Even if your NT player is the best on your team he CANNOT get more then 70-80 minuets per week!

2 Seasons is alot of time and I'm sure my goal for making the U21 and NT better will be achieved, but I will have to get automatic results in the next Asia Championship. Looking at our rivals we can beat Hanguk and Macao, but it won't be easy. It will be a great achievement to get to the next round, but because we come as underdogs it can be done. Another advantage I saw wasn't used seasons before is Enthusiasm. You have to mark your targets and try to lift your enthusiasm from other matches. If we do get to the consolation tournament, the goal is to get to the first 32, a goal who was just missed one season ago.

As a U21 NT coach I will make myself available at all time, and I will be most transparent and noticeable on the forums. I hope I answered all your questions and I'de love to hear some more.

Thanks for your response ! After reading your answers I like to know more about your program :

Scouting
Like you said, scouting is big work that can't be done alone. But it is one of the main key to pretend to increase our standing toward the world. Do you have a staff ? A manager that will help you if you were elected ?

T&T
What type of profile are you searching for each position ?
About Enthusiasm, do you think that you perfectly overcome this aspect of the game ? If yes, justify please.

Availability
Are you ready to fix as your priority the Thai Junior team and leave your franchise at second rank ?

Last edited by Pipat Kitamakin at 3/27/2010 9:04:35 AM

Those are some pretty good questions...

Scouting
I am pretty well networked and I have very good friends that will help me if I get elected, but I would very much like to be helped by the local managers, above all, if elected I will very much like to work with the current U21 manager.

T&T
I like versitile players the most - Centers who can pass, Powers who guard and shoot well from outside, Point Guard who can score and guard inside, and Small Forwards who do anything (Shooting just need to shoot and handle most of all). I will probably won't get that luxury of having a big pool to select from. Each week I will go with the best game shape and best tactic according to the rival.
About enthusiasm, I learned it the hard way. in my first seasons I had a great run through the league but in the playoffs I blew it, why? because I didn't save enthusiasm. When you are a small comunity like thailand, you can't be stupid to think you can win ALL matches. In order to win some matches we will have to use all resources one of them being Enthusiasm. If you have a 10 agains a 5 (enthusiasm of course), it's almost the same as having a court advantage, or going crunch time. I nhope I answered your question.

Availability
Right now I spend too much time on my team lol. The website is open 24/7 and I find myself just looking at my players sometime, or just trying to find some new subjects to put on the forums.
I can say, honestly that I will look at the national team as if it was my own. Only that it's a bit more important. If elected I will have to justify it, and I won't rest. I will still manage my own team of course, but I will be very eager to make the national team succeed. You can see that since puting my speech up, I have got in this forum every time I logged in, and that's what i intend to do being your coach.

Very interesting program ...

Scouting
You are talking about "good friends", but can we know the number of managers that will compose your staff ? Plus, you said you'll be transparent during your run, so can you tell us the identity of your "friends" ?

T&T
Does it mean that you'll change players depending to rivals ? Is game shape the most important characteristic ?

Availability
According to my perception, I don't think that a sport elector can handle his personal issues (own franchise) and a NT. To be competitive, you need to focus on one main aspect ...

Communication
Can we know more about your communication program ?

Scouting
There are LA-Nirman, Oded, tomerkish999, Damnation, Gabi. From them I'll select 1 main assistant who will be in touch with me on a daily basis and I do hope to have another one from here (the minute I'm elected I will attend to that, as to not "bribe" anyone before the end of elections). Other than that, I will have one or two more helping me with decisions, scouting other teams, and overall advisers. Anyway, I will do the main work (at least 70% I believe), everything from everything, and I will make the decisions at the end of the day.

T&T
The opening 5 will probably change from time to time, and new recruits will come aboard depending on the rival and game shape, though you should be careful when changing the roster of a NT because of the enthusiasm loss.
Game Shape is not the most important characteristic, but I'm not sure there is a most important one. If I look at two similar players I will definitely take the one with the best shape. You can see how much game shape does count looking at your team's improvement from week 1 (Game Shape 7) to week 4 (If you do it right GS 8-8.4).

Availability
Think about it this way. I will put more emphesis on the NT than anyone I know puts on his own team, but I will still look after my team. If you delegate correctly and put in a big effort you can reach the potential with both teams. The U21 Israeli NT coach got our NT to the World Championship Finals and got his team to the Israeli Cup Finals.

Communication
If I got this right I believe you mean how I talk on the forums and ect. as a NT coach?
I intend to post a comprehensive work on each rival, at least 3 days before the game (when game shape sits in), talking about possibilities and sharing it with the active managers of the thai league, and right before the game I will present the line-up, tactics and explanations. I hope I can make the NT more interesting and make people watch the game "Live". If we talk about communication with the coaches of the NT players, it will be done a few times through the season, talking about right training, right minute spreading, and general help.

BTW
just looking at the U21 roster it's easy to see we have a lot of room to improve. Potential is one of the most crucial issues of a NT if you want to build long-term. 6th man potential can get to a certain point pretty quicly than almost stop the speed of his training. When you select from your draft, you should put the potential grades on a pedestal. It will be very ideal if every Thai team will have one all-star+ potential 18-19 player who can contribute to the NT eventually. At this point, almost any big potential player can make the NT eventually depending on the right training.