Clemson Coach To Take On Thai National Team

[mauiguy90]

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Chuck Kriese faced a 17-hour flight home from Bangkok last year and had an even tougher challenge ahead ofhim after it.

Clemson's longtime tennis coach had decided months earlier that his 33rd season leading the Tiger men would be his last. After several weeks teaching clinics in Thailand last December, the 58-year-old was offered a job leading that country's tennis efforts and shaping the face of the sport in Southeast Asia. He briefed wife Claire, the mother of their three preschool-age children, about the position before his plane took off.

Her response: "You're going to have to prove to me our children will have a great life."

Kriese must have done a convincing job. He and his family plan to leave the United States later this summer for what they describe as the adventure of a lifetime.

"It's certainly not the safest of plays," Kriese said with a smile during a recent interview. "But it is without a doubt the best of plays."

Safe hasn't always been Kriese's way.

He never took a tennis lesson growing up in Indianapolis, but received a scholarship at Tennessee Tech before going on to a teaching position with noted Australian star Harry Hopman in the early 1970s and a stellar career at Clemson that included 10 Atlantic Coast Conference titles and 24 NCAA tournament appearances. He's authored four books on tennis and a fifth about Clemson athletics.

Kriese could've easily ridden out his coaching years with the Tigers, but no longer felt the passion for his work in a changing world of college athletics. He told athletic director Terry Don Phillips he felt like an "80 percenter" and was ready to move on.

At first, Kriese figured he'd settle into a routine of summer tennis camps and consulting former Clemson players out on tour.

Then came a request from one of Kriese's ex-Tigers, touring tennis coach Robert Davis, to spend several weeks tutoring and teaching in Southeast Asia.

Kriese agreed, although most of what he knew of the area was influenced by new reports during the Vietnam War four decades ago. What Kriese discovered was an energetic, eager, friendly society that welcomed his help. To Kriese, it was like small-town America of the 1950s and '60s.

"The respect that is automatically given to authority figures -- teachers, coaches, parents -- is mind boggling," he said.

Near the end of his visit, Kriese was asked to return after Clemson's season to become Thailand's national coach and Southeast Asia's technical tennis director.

"My heart was wanting to do it immediately," he said. "My head was putting on the brakes."

Kriese had several big reasons to slow down -- his wife and children: Lillian, 4; Paul 2; and Adeline, 8 months.

But Claire listened with open ears and an open heart, her husband said. The two prayed and agreed the experience they'd give their children outweighed the uncertainty of living abroad.

"I love the adventure," Claire said.

The family will go from Clemson's rural, tight-knit community of about 12,000 to Bangkok's packed metropolis of nearly 9 million -- a dramatic change from a life in which Claire Kriese jokes she can run into the same person "four or five times a day" around town.

Rarely a day goes by, Claire says, without a friend or acquaintance weighing in on the move: "They all tell me I'm crazy."

Crazy or not, the Kriese crew leaves in mid-September, after the U.S. Open.

The plan is to live in Thailand for seven months each year and return to their Clemson home in the spring.

Kriese will take some family time before shifting back to work once the summer tennis season takes off. He'll catch up with Thai pros competing at the French Open or Wimbledon, along with holding youth tennis camps. Come September, the Krieses will fly back for another stretch in Thailand.

As national coach, Kriese says his goal is to make Thailand significant in Davis Cup competition, as well as improving Thai pros' positions on tour. As technical director, Kriese is charged with coordinating tennis efforts for 10 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Should any Thai players qualify for the Beijing Olympics in August (brothers Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana are ranked 40th in the world in doubles and are the country's best chance), Kriese would attend. He'd follow that with a stop in Bangkok to check on living arrangements before the move.

The Krieses have researched medical care and English-language schools, although Claire, a former teacher, may homeschool Lillian when she reaches elementary school age. The couple is confident their children will thrive.

Davis, who attended Kriese's camps as a youth, said in an e-mail he believes his old coach can spark a tennis explosion in the region. "All they need is direction and guidance. That is Kriese's specialty. He will get them up to racing speed immediately," he wrote.

Kriese's blood is racing again, too. He'd grown frustrated with how difficult it became to influence college players. If he wasn't road-blocked by outside advisers and distractions like iPods, Kriese was limited by NCAA guidelines. He told his athletic director he'd go recruiting at youth tennis tournaments and see other college coaches with heads buried in their Blackberrys, messaging potential players. "Wait a minute," he thought, "I just want to talk to somebody."

Now, "I feel like I'm 35 again," he said.

Kriese's work has already begun. Three Thai coaches arrived this month to work and train under Kriese. They'll help with camps and get a jump on techniques Kriese plans to bring to the country later this year.

"I think he has the heart to go help us," said Napaporn Tongsalee, a 28-year-old who won three of Thailand's five tennis golds in last year's Southeast Asia Games.

Kriese sends biweekly reports to his boss-to-be, Siriwat Chaiyapak, president of South East Asia Tennis Federation. One minute, he's sketching plans to have more Thai coaches certified in the Professional Tennis Registry, the next he's packing up an aged framed portrait of a past Clemson player as he cleans out his office overlooking the courts of Sloan Tennis Center.

He's got the chance, Kriese says, to live the lessons he's brought tennis players for more than three decades.

Kriese often uses the legend of the black door, a story where a captured spy faced with either death by firing squad or the unknown behind a black door, chose the shooting death over going through the portal and what would've been his freedom.

"Absolutely, the things I've been most terrified about in my life are similar to black doors," Kriese said. "They're the kind of opportunities that if you don't do them, you'll regret it your entire life.

"I might fail," Kriese said, "but I don't want to have regret five years from now."

[Rhys]

Less than 6 months on the job.. Once he learns of Thai way of doing things... Mr.. College Tennis TIT.. It awaits his forehand.

[zzdocxx]

He's fifty-eight and has three pre-school age children, my hero already! ! ! ! ! ! ! !