Adrian “hatchy” Widera won the award for the best coach of the season, according to fans and sports commentators, and is the first foreign coach to win the spring split and receive the award for the best coach in Turkey. His team, Supper Massive, won Turkey’s TCL league. The live finals took place in April 2016 at Volkswagen Arena in Istanbul, in front of a six-thousand-strong audience. The competition was broadcast by Turkish television.
Adrian lives in Turkey every day, in a “gaming house” with six players, where they have their own in-house chef and driver and train for 10–12 hours a day. Every weekend, they play tournament matches watched by tens of thousands of people online.
“When it comes to coaching,” Adrian says, “teaching strategy in the game is about 30% of what I do. We talk about what is best, watch our matches, and watch the best players in the Korean or European league. In reality, it is mainly work on the players’ mindset: teaching them how important teamwork and responsibility for other players on the team are, as well as communication and motivation. Being a professional player is not like having an ordinary job. Players in an online game are expected to play brilliantly every day; they have to prove every day that they are the best. And these players are 16–23 years old, which is difficult. They are tested every day, and their play is constantly commented on and criticised. The main point is to give them the feeling that they are developing as players and as people,” the coach explains.
Asked about his plans for the future, the Bolesławiec native said that in the near future he plans to fly from Turkey to Mexico, where his team will compete against teams from all over the world. The team’s ultimate goal is the World Championship.