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Mongolian Interview Series - rlawrence

Written by Salnas

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Our new interview hero is a manager who was very active in HT-Mongolia few years ago and then he quit hattrick. Now he's back with his new club called Chingis FC.
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TODAY'S INTERVIEW: rlawrence(6189008)
MONGOL ULS CLUB NAME: Chingis FC(986648)

Enjoy:

MOHP: Tell us some things about you.

rlawrence : I'm from America. I lived and worked in Mongolia from 2000-2010, where I helped start a Baptist Mission. Not many people in Mongolia spoke English at that time, so I made learning Mongolian one of my priorities.

While I was studying at a small language school, I met a Brazilian who was trying to start an International Youth Football Club in Ulaanbaatar. Soccer was always a great deal of fun to me, so I started helping him.

It quickly became my 2nd job, and by my 2nd year, we had over 100 kids from at least 10 different countries playing for us (Japan, Korea, Russia, Ukraine, USA, Switz, Germany, Sweden, Belarus, oh, and Mongolia)

It was also during that time that I found Hattrick, and started building my team Mongol Horde.

MOHP: So this time is your second appearance in hattrick and you were a very active user before as I understood. What plans you have now in hattrick? As you see there a lot of things changed since you quit the game. Are you planning to buy supporter?

rlawrence : Yes, at the height of my time with Mongol Horde, I was able to win the cup twice, play a match in Hattrick Masters, and had an arena of over 90k.

I've never won the Mongolian Premier though. That would be my grandest goal. Also, as you said, there are many new things to learn, and now with Platinum supporter, there are a lot more experienced managers with teams in Mongol Uls. I believe things will be more challenging now.

As for supporter, I'm not sure yet. Online gaming is fun for me, but it has been difficult for me to budget money towards the experience.

MOHP: I tried to interview some local mongolian managers, but without any success, why is it so, maybe it is because football is not so popular in Mongol Uls and local managers are not so interested playing hattrick?

rlawrence : In my experience, Mongols love to watch and play football. I think they are less interested in text-based, long-term management games, and more interested in active, visual games.

MOHP: What do you think about flagchasing in HT?

rlawrence : I think it is a wonderful part of the game. It encourages people to look to the four corners of the world, and make friends with people they perhaps never even thought about before.

MOHP: You really think making friendlies can really help you geting new friends all over the world?

rlawrence : Why not? The first part of friendship is an introduction. After that, people decide whether or not to invest more time writing back and forth to each other. It's not the same as sitting face-to-face in a coffee shop and spending time with someone, but who's to say it couldn't lead to that?

One hattrick user was coming to Mongolia for vacation while I was there. He wrote me asking for details about hotels, and lodging and so forth. I was able to help point him to the right places. I would have been happy to meet him, have a coffee, even show him around a little bit, but sadly, I had a working trip to go on the week he was in country.

MOHP: Do you follow NT and U-20 Mongol Uls?
How do you think is it ok that second team managers have no rights to vote during elections in Mongolia?

rlawrence : Yes, I love to follow our National Teams. It's exciting to come back after all of this time and find that four players that I brought up through my youth academy at Mongol Horde are still playing for the Senior Team.

It's also exciting to see people with enthusiasm, attention to detail, and creativity show interest and get involved in our National Team development. I tried to coach our national team (I think the u20) for one term a long while back, and found I didn't have enough time to do it well. Because of this, I like to support others that have a passion and aptitude for it (and the time!).

I know this probably won't be popular, but concerning 2nd team managers, I think it is right in not allowing them to vote. It would be very easy in a small country like this for a group of even just three or four 2nd team managers to come in and control things.

MOHP: Do you have a long term strategy for your club? Could you share it with us?

rlawrence : My initial plan is to build a competitive, affordable squad, build my supporter base, and watch my economy. I will start by training keepers, and will be fielding mostly a veteran squad.

There are already a few strong teams in my division, though, so it's probably not realistic to think I can compete for the trophy this coming season. I might be able to surprise a team or two though, and that would be great fun.

I will be using the scouting network instead of the YA. I just don't know if I will have the time to do the YA well, so the old system will work better for me for now.

MOHP: Thanks for interview. All the best to you!