• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 15:13
CET 21:13
KST 05:13
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book15Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational14
Community News
ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0220LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)25Weekly Cups (Feb 2-8): Classic, Solar, MaxPax win2Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker10PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar)13
StarCraft 2
General
How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker Terran Scanner Sweep Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book Weekly Cups (Jan 12-18): herO, MaxPax, Solar win
Tourneys
RSL Season 4 announced for March-April LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16) PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) RSL Revival: Season 4 Korea Qualifier (Feb 14) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ? [A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 512 Overclocked Mutation # 511 Temple of Rebirth Mutation # 510 Safety Violation
Brood War
General
ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/02 Which units you wish saw more use in the game? StarCraft player reflex TE scores [ASL21] Potential Map Candidates Gypsy to Korea
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 1 Small VOD Thread 2.0 KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Zealot bombing is no longer popular? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Current Meta
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Diablo 2 thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread ZeroSpace Megathread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Ask and answer stupid questions here! US Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
ADHD And Gaming Addiction…
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1889 users

Why do people pay for "coaching?" - Page 3

Blogs > urasheep
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 All
Bibdy
Profile Joined March 2010
United States3481 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-27 21:57:14
July 27 2011 21:56 GMT
#41
Why do I pay a university to teach me programming when I could literally google one topic after another and build my own education for free with lots of time, energy and practice? Because I don't have the god damn time to figure out an entire lesson plan and curriculum from scratch, nor would I have someone available to answer my questions, and show me line-by-line what I'm doing wrong, if I get stuck. Duh.
Sufficiency
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada23833 Posts
July 27 2011 22:18 GMT
#42
It's the same reason as people paying to get tutors for calculus. Even though you might not need a calculus tutor, some other people might.
https://twitter.com/SufficientStats
CecilSunkure
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States2829 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-27 22:24:15
July 27 2011 22:23 GMT
#43
Same reason people go to college most of the time. It's an easier way of going about things for a lot of people. Can also be more time-efficient.
iamke55
Profile Blog Joined April 2004
United States2806 Posts
July 27 2011 22:31 GMT
#44
Why do people go to school? Just give someone some books, and it'll be so much more satisfying when they figure out how to read on their own!
During practice session, I discovered very good build against zerg. -Bisu[Shield]
Bosu
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States3247 Posts
July 27 2011 22:48 GMT
#45
From watching Mr bitters 12 weeks there are definitely a lot of good that can come from coaching. 50/hr is outrageous though. But if people pay it more power to the coaches.
#1 Kwanro Fan
Sablar
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Sweden880 Posts
July 28 2011 01:08 GMT
#46
Strangest thing about coaching to me is that the only qualification criteria appears to be "be good at starcraft 2". I'm just thinking that you can be good at the game and be a worthless teacher at the same time.

But if people want to get better and are willing to spend money then I don't see anything wrong with it and even a bad teacher will probably help more than noone at all.
beberly
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States117 Posts
July 28 2011 12:53 GMT
#47
People have covered it pretty thoroughly, but the economic concept of opportunity cost is a big factor in the decision to get coaching. If we accept the premise that coaches don't give you anything you couldn't get for yourself (something I would dispute, but this fact doesn't really change the outcome of the analysis), there is still a good argument for paying for coaching.

Everyone values money because it provides them the means to do things they enjoy (going out for dinner, a trip to the movies, a nice car, house, etc.). People also value time, because they can spend it doing those things that they enjoy. In order to get better at SC2 (or any hobby, for that matter), you have to spend SOMETHING. That something can be either time, by teaching yourself and slowly improving by analyzing your own replays, or it can be money, by paying a coach to tell you things that, given enough time, you'd figure out yourself.

If I have lots of money but little time, I value money less than I value time, and spending money instead of time to improve provides me with more utility than the other way around. If, however, I have little money but lots of time (which is usually the case with younger people who lack a solid income, but have fewer demands on their time), then it makes perfect sense to spend TIME, rather than MONEY, to improve, because I value money much more than time.

It's a balance that might sway towards the "I value money way more than time" side for you, but lots of people have plenty of cash and less time. We all spend money on our hobbies, and if you enjoy SC2 and improving, spending money makes perfect sense. It may not be the decision that YOU make, but to say that it's nonsensical for others to make that decision is silly.
Mayor
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United States472 Posts
July 28 2011 17:19 GMT
#48
Coaching just makes things come faster/easier often times. Though, the only time I'd ever get coaching is when I'm masters league, I don't understand any of the silver/gold/plat level players buying coaching when it's just their mechanics that are really the issue.

One time some guy bought coughing and was in silver league, and he wanted to play against his coworker and Destiny just let the student talk to himself the whole lesson because he really couldn't help him too much, like it's a waste of 50 dollars if you're below diamond/masters in my opinion.
"You can be creative but I will crush it under the iron fist of my conservative play." - Liquid`Tyler
kainzero
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
United States5211 Posts
July 28 2011 18:00 GMT
#49
On July 28 2011 03:58 urasheep wrote:
Starcraft is a game where you can save your replays. I don't understand why anyone would need the help of someone else to get better. You watch your replay, find out where you failed, change your strat up or work on what you're already doing to make it better, and bam, you just coached yourself.

"Find out where you failed."
Many times we are unaware of what we are doing wrong. We can watch our replay over and over, but we won't be able to pinpoint what we did wrong because we don't have the experience to tell us that.
A lot of low level players will say, "Hey, I totally lost this battle, I think my micro is awful," when in reality his macro is awful.

"Change your strat up"
It's not really that easy, especially in practice. A good coach will not only be able to identify your weakness but how to fix it.
I was coaching my brother on weightlifting, but he had problems I never had. When he did squats, his flexibility was horrible. I never had the problem. What do I say? "GO ALL THE WAY DOWN?"
A good coach would be able to identify the core problem and provide cues to fix this. Me, just being a hobbyist weightlifter who was somewhat decent, would never be able to fix it.

Whenever I watch videos of people getting coached, it's usually just simple advice like "make drones, make overlords..," which everyone can do by themselves.

That's on the quality of the coach, not a criticism on coaching.
Supply blocking was a problem for me, but I isolated it by getting a cue... build this structure at this point when you have this much supply and after this building. I practiced it and it went away. My cue might not work for everyone. If I tell people "build this, then build that" I feel like they're not learning.

While on the topic of coaching, I find it ridiculous anyone would pay anything more then $5 an hour for coaching. Do you think your coaches payed someone $50 an hour for advice? Probably not.

Most personal trainers in any industry cost about that much, from language instruction to martial arts to fitness.
Kalingingsong
Profile Joined September 2009
Canada633 Posts
July 28 2011 18:07 GMT
#50
the same reason people pay for porn I guess. why would they pay for that shit when they can just find it for free [but for some reason they do].
Dess.JadeFalcon
mlee
Profile Joined March 2009
United States116 Posts
July 28 2011 18:19 GMT
#51
When Tiger Woods was at his peak and was the best golfer in the world.. he still had a coach.

This is no different. People tend to learn faster when there are others there helping them see things you didn't catch yourself.
hmmm
Zidane
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States1689 Posts
July 28 2011 18:35 GMT
#52
While 50$ might be pretty outrageous, coaching for some fees is pretty reasonable. Learning SC2 verbally from another person will help your game tremendously.
Ipp
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States456 Posts
July 28 2011 19:06 GMT
#53
It's always nice to get a second opinion. Yes it is basic advice but coaching happens at all levels. Look at MLG Columbus, after each game you had Tyler(aka Nony) going up to HuK and telling him he did everything right; he just was out of position.

Yeah, the mistakes may be obvious but it's always nice to get a second opinion by someone who knows the game inside and out.
http://youtube.com/RageQuitTV
Dfgj
Profile Joined May 2008
Singapore5922 Posts
July 28 2011 19:11 GMT
#54
On July 28 2011 03:58 urasheep wrote:
I don't understand why anyone would need the help of someone else to get better.

Really? Really?

Shit, how do you respond to something like that? Look at every other hobby/sport/activity ever.
Denzil
Profile Joined August 2010
United Kingdom4193 Posts
July 28 2011 19:38 GMT
#55
When you hit your personal skill cap you need someone to help you "unlock" the next level.
Anna: So Sen how will you prepare for your revenge v MC? Sen: With a smile.
GreatFall
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States1061 Posts
July 28 2011 23:35 GMT
#56
What I don't understand is why as say a Platinum player, you wouldn't just get coaching from a high diamond or low master's player. Why do you need coaching from the very best? It's like learning how to play basic tennis from Roger Federer, kinda overkill imo.
Inventor of the 'Burning Tide' technique to quickly getting Outmatched Crusher achivement :D
Azzur
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Australia6260 Posts
July 29 2011 03:24 GMT
#57
People pay for coaching because it works - someone will learn faster because a good coach can pick up things that the player may miss. It's the same with every sport - tennis, golf, etc.

On July 28 2011 06:31 andrewlt wrote:
I don't understand it, either. Most of the examples people bring up, like guitar, violin, tennis, require you to contort your body into unnatural stances as a fundamental. Pretty much something like golf require you to assume a stance before you can play. Coaches are helpful there to remind you when you are doing it wrong and proper positioning technique. The only way I can see that happening in Starcraft is if proper positioning of hands and fingers on a keyboard/mouse would help apm. Otherwise, all the information is right there on the Internet.

Now, I understand why professional teams and top amateurs have coaches. I just don't see how bronze and silver league players would benefit from it in Starcraft.

It's no different in SC2 compared to other sports. There are fundamentals in SC2 as well.
bobwhiz
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States725 Posts
July 29 2011 04:21 GMT
#58
I think some people pay just to socialize with the pros. Would you pay 50 bucks an hour to hang out with Derek Jeter or Peyton Manning?

I know many people who pay 200 bucks just to watch the stars from the cheap seats in person.
Signatures are simply a cover for having no personality. -Kiante
D_K_night
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada615 Posts
July 29 2011 16:54 GMT
#59
The question isn't phrased very well. Like many here said; you've already made your mind, and you're not going to change your viewpoint. So why even bother asking? You'll just dig in your heels if you see anything from anyone which runs contrary to what you believe.

OP, are you pro? By "pro", let's take IdrA's defintion, which means:

You play this game to earn a living. This is your sole means of income. If you don't win, you don't eat.

I'm guessing you're not - or you wouldn't asking this question in the first place. Why did IdrA train in Korea? Why does Huk? Jinro? Ask yourself, why they couldn't just train from home. Because your assertion is, why does anyone need help of any kind, when you can just learn on your own?

Why do teams have coaches?

Yes there are plenty of self-taught people. Does that mean that self-help is absolutely for everyone on this planet? What do you have against money changing hands? Is that your real problem? Why would you pay someone to make a burger for you, when you could do it yourself(and better, right?).
Canada
Prev 1 2 3 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
AI Arena Tournament
20:00
Swiss - Final Day
Laughngamez YouTube
RSL Revival
18:00
S4 Europe Server Qualifier
IndyStarCraft 329
LiquipediaDiscussion
PSISTORM Gaming Misc
16:55
FSL TeamLeague S10: ASH vs POG
Freeedom24
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SteadfastSC 362
IndyStarCraft 329
BRAT_OK 85
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 2131
nyoken 62
NaDa 1
Dota 2
febbydoto11
LuMiX1
Counter-Strike
fl0m4348
Dendi402
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King116
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor529
MindelVK11
Other Games
gofns27353
Grubby5225
FrodaN4030
tarik_tv3429
Mlord600
KnowMe474
ToD229
Liquid`Hasu214
Trikslyr98
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL23502
Other Games
EGCTV1439
gamesdonequick1157
StarCraft 2
angryscii 22
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 18 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• printf 62
• Airneanach13
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Migwel
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 25
• FirePhoenix5
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota236
League of Legends
• Nemesis7774
• Shiphtur729
Other Games
• imaqtpie1936
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
3h 48m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
13h 48m
LiuLi Cup
14h 48m
Maru vs Reynor
Serral vs Rogue
Ladder Legends
21h 48m
Replay Cast
1d 3h
Replay Cast
1d 12h
Wardi Open
1d 15h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 20h
OSC
2 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
2 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
PiG Sty Festival
4 days
The PondCast
4 days
KCM Race Survival
4 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
PiG Sty Festival
5 days
Epic.LAN
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
PiG Sty Festival
6 days
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
Epic.LAN
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S1: W8
Rongyi Cup S3
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: King of Kings
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 1st Round
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 1st Round Qualifier
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round Qualifier
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
WardiTV Winter 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.