Denmark national coach Lars Uhre: ‘Pressure on Asian colleagues is greater’

Denmark national badminton coach Lars Uhre

There’s something about Lars Uhre that commands attention. As chief coach of the Denmark badminton team since 2010, Uhre has the ears of Denmark’s best badminton players. Often seen in the chair, his analytical skills and knowledge are pitted against the best badminton minds of Asia, not to mention the rest of the world, and it’s a contest he appears to relish. Despite challenges, Denmark has managed to retain its status as a badminton power, and with two medals each at the Olympics and the World Championships, Uhre can justifiably feel proud. Excerpts from an interview:

What are the main challenges you face as chief coach of a traditional badminton powerhouse?

We’ve been low on people since Olympics, so it was tough preparing for the World Championships this year. But now we’re a full team of four coaches and we work as a team, so we share the challenge and the workload which is nice and we’re very giving in the way we can help each other, like discussing badminton matters and what we’re going to do with the players and so forth. So when it’s a full team it’s a nice job and we work as a group and that’s we found the best way for us.

What’s the coaching structure like for the national team? Do you have ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams?

We only have one team, and in women’s singles we have a special project where we have some younger players. We have what in other countries you’d call an ‘A’ group, and the ‘B’ group is working in the clubs, or at the different centres around Denmark. We have a big centre in Aarhus (Denmark’s second biggest city after Copenhagen) as well, so we cover different areas of Denmark.

In Aarhus the centre is run by Badminton Denmark, and Badminton Denmark is also involved in other centres, but with financial support from the clubs.

Tactically, how do you ensure that you are level or a step ahead of other teams?

It’s a two-faced coin. On one hand you have to keep up with the others when they get good ideas, so you have to follow the other nations, but you have to find other areas where we can be ahead and force the others to catch up with us.

What’s the process of study? Is it just by watching matches or are there deeper aspects as well?

It’s about watching videos and discussing with players and coaches so we get ideas of what we should do.

Do you work across sports, to use the experience of other athletes and coaches for the use of your badminton players?

We listen to other coaches; we try to get other ideas. But it’s hard to adapt. There’s a process of getting an idea, and doing something similar. We have a good forum for that in Team Denmark where all the national coaches meet and have different discussions.

With the World Championships at Copenhagen next year, do you have some immediate priorities?

We’re looking at the World Championships on home ground and would like to perform well. We see it as a bit of mini-Olympics for us, because there will be a lot of attention, similar to the Olympics, to watch the Danish players. So we will try to prepare almost like it is the Olympics, and try to use that experience for the 2016 Olympics.

How do you handle the pressures of the job? Does it affect you personally?

I think, honestly, I’m not under as much pressure as some of my colleagues from Asia. We have a very solid foundation, and we work together as a group. Luckily we’ve performed very well lately. I don’t think so much about the pressure. I’m more interested in working with the players, developing the players and trying to catch up or stay ahead of the rest of the world.

Your thoughts on Indian badminton?

I can see there’s a lot happening in India and they have a lot of young talented players. It’s nice to see different countries perform in badminton, and even though they’re trying to steal our medals, they could also keep the Chinese domination down. Right now it’s China versus the rest of the world, so we should be happy for every nation who can challenge the Chinese.

What is about the Chinese that they do so well in pressure situations that the rest don’t do? Is it just the question of the number of players at their disposal, or is there more to it?

Right now, they do almost everything well. They have a lot of talented players; they train them hard from a very young age. They have a lot of knowledge, and they have opened their eyes to other countries and other sports, so they have a lot of knowledge on a lot of different levels, so they’re hard to compete with right now.