COACHES MAKE CHAMPIONS TEAMS HEAD INTO STATE ACADEMIC DECATHLON.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

Students study day and night, they take the tests, make the speeches and write the essays in a fiercely competitive bid to capture the national Academic Decathlon title.

But it's the coaching that produces the champions.

``You can find brilliant kids at any school,'' said Cliff Ker, the Los Angeles Unified School District's coordinator for the challenging, 10-subject academic competition. ``It's all coaching. To be able to inspire kids who are this brilliant to do what they do is a superhuman feat.''

California's Academic Decathlon champ will be announced Sunday after grueling exams Friday and today. The winning team will head to Chicago for the April 13-16 national meet.

For Ventura County's Moorpark High School and the LAUSD's Taft High School in Woodland Hills - currently ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the nation, respectively - coaches have definitely been the deciding factor. Each school has won two national championships, then watched their programs deteriorate when the winning coaches stepped down.

In addition to Moorpark and Taft, three-time national champion El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills and dark-horse candidate North Hollywood High School are among the top contenders for this year's state competition.

All four coaches are modest, saying there's no secret to their success other than hard work and good students who are willing to study for hours on end, months before other teams even crack open a book. They also encourage bonding among students to help the nine-member teams become a family.

At Moorpark High, students spend hours studying in coach Larry Jones' classroom, snacking on beef jerky, instant soup and other items from Jones' stash. Dinners are catered by proud parents.

Jones, a 12-year coaching veteran, stepped down as coach last year, after winning national championships in 1999 and 2003. Moorpark didn't even field a team in 2004 because no one wanted to follow in his footsteps.

He came back this year, he said, because he ``saw what the community missed'' by not having a team to root for.

Jones says his job is that of a motivator and facilitator.

``There's so many smarter coaches than me that could teach the information. My job is to get it where they can teach each other and learn to study,'' he said.

Another veteran coach is Taft's Art Berchin, who retired in 1995 after leading teams to two national wins. Since Berchin returned to the then- languishing team in 2002, Taft has won the LAUSD's regional competition twice and placed well at state.

This year, Taft trails Moorpark by just 47 points - out of 60,000 - heading into state competition.

Berchin says he selects self-starters, allows the kids to set their own pace and then calls in other teachers to help with unfamiliar subjects, such as microeconomics. He also tries to set the right tone for the kids.

``I always tell the teachers in my department, if you are too severe with students, they'll resent you and won't respect you,'' Berchin said. ``If you're too much on their level, and you're trying to be their friend, they won't respect you either.''

Taft team members describe Berchin as stern but fair.

``He really cares about it a lot,'' said Taft member Daniel Lee, 17. ``He's a strong leader and we have confidence that he knows what he's doing.''

El Camino Real, currently fourth in the nation, features what other coaches dub ``the machine'' - a rotating team of coaches and as many as seven ``guest coaches'' who drill students.

``You're able to use everybody's expertise on campus,'' said Christian Cerone, who has coached the team for five years.

And that's a good thing since both he and co-head coach Lissa Gregorio are English teachers.

``If we had to teach the math, we'd be dead,'' Cerone joked.

North Hollywood, sixth in the nation, is led by Altair Maine, a young math and science teacher who graduated from California State University, Los Angeles, when he was 16.

At 24, when many other teachers are just starting their careers, Maine has already taught and coached decathlon for five years. ``The most important part of a coach's job is getting the right kids and getting them fired up and wanting to win,'' Maine said.

Maine's students said their coach's youth makes him approachable, but they trust him and respect his encyclopedic knowledge.

``He just has a lot of confidence in the team,'' said team member Jesse Craig, 16, of Los Angeles. ``This just means so much to him. I think a lot of us want to win it for Mr. Maine.''

Good coaches also try to help the kids keep the competitive event in perspective, Jones said.

``These kids are giving me everything they've got,'' Jones said. ``Somebody might beat us, but we're not going to lose.''

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

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(1) MOORPARK HIGH

(2) TAFT HIGH

(3) EL CAMINO REAL HIGH

(4) NORTH HOLLYWOOD HIGH