Hello. I am birdkicker, American server Zerg player at around ~130 rank in GM. I would like to help lower level players with coaching, but I don't feel like I'm experienced with teaching to coach efficiently. I have coached my friends maybe once or twice in my whole SC2 career, and from that I can tell you I am very nervous at this "coaching" thing. I was never comfortable as a coach because I thought I had many things to work at, when i used to be mid-masters. Now that I have improved, I think i can give out the correct information to my students.

However, I am still not comfortable teaching, because I'm scared that my advice will be subpar, or at least explained poorly, and the student will walk out with barely anything... makes me feel like i scammed someone.

So I am asking here, how do I get starting with the coaching experience? Thanks for reading

HungrySC2

United States191 Posts

September 21 2011 22:52 GMT

Start with free lessons. You won't be "liable" for not teaching them anything (which won't be the case) and you will gain experience in the process.

Its good PR to.

Thaniri

1264 Posts

September 21 2011 22:53 GMT

probably not the greatest place to congratulate you, but HOLY **** you improved like, lightyears ahead of me.

The easiest way to get into coaching is to have THEM ask you the questions while they play. Atleast as a non-profesional.

Edit: as an afterthought, while I may recognize random people I have played/practised against, you probably don't. I was hanging out in team victus and nyq chat so thats how we met.

birdkicker

United States752 Posts

September 21 2011 22:58 GMT

On September 22 2011 07:53 Thaniri wrote:
probably not the greatest place to congratulate you, but HOLY **** you improved like, lightyears ahead of me.

The easiest way to get into coaching is to have THEM ask you the questions while they play. Atleast as a non-profesional.

Edit: as an afterthought, while I may recognize random people I have played/practised against, you probably don't. I was hanging out in team victus and nyq chat so thats how we met.

Thanks ^^

Sorry, I don't recognize you lol... but its alright... I think people remember me more because i have a unique name

On September 22 2011 07:52 HungrySC2 wrote:
Start with free lessons. You won't be "liable" for not teaching them anything (which won't be the case) and you will gain experience in the process.

Its good PR to.

Yeah, this is where I'm leaning towards to at the moment.

KaluGOSU

United States171 Posts

September 21 2011 23:14 GMT

you need to advertise !

birdkicker

United States752 Posts

September 21 2011 23:17 GMT

On September 22 2011 08:14 KaluGOSU wrote:
you need to advertise !

Huh...? I don't get this, i tried not to advertise but even putting down what my future plans for pricing got my other thread to be closed.

JonnyClark

United Kingdom79 Posts

September 21 2011 23:24 GMT

as Hungry mentioned, do a few free lessons until you are comfortable in your coaching ability. The student is bound to ask you lots of questions in and out of the games. As long as you have the students play games, watch their replays with them, and find a flaw to work on (and that's not going to be a problem seeing as you are GM) that's a good part of it.

Tedde93

Sweden169 Posts

September 21 2011 23:25 GMT

Just put up a thread about free coaching and BAM, noobs will be swarming in, that is what I anyway did and that was half a year ago but I'm still getting PMs about people who want to get coached. Focus on mechanics BTW.

duk3

United States807 Posts

September 21 2011 23:46 GMT

You can advertise free coaching here, try that out, and get a bunch of signups, go over replays, have them play people ranked higher than them while you are talking them through the actions that you would take, pointing out errors, helping them learn useful micro tricks, telling them to macro up more units and generally trying to improve their skill.
You just can't advertise for something that pays you without buying a sponsored thread I believe

fatum

Spain83 Posts

September 22 2011 00:01 GMT

#10

When coaching you should consider who you are coaching (yeah, obvious) and why (not so obvious rly).

Coaches can be seen as many things by their students:
A friend
A leader
A teacher
A mentor
etc (cant think about more now, sry)

You would behave differently if you are with a friend than when you are with your math teacher or in presence of your boss.
This role affects the relationship with your students directly, so you should consider wich one you can/want to be.

You can't really be friends with someone you just know, who is paying you 20bucks for your service and who you wont see or know about ever again. It doesn't make much sense.
You can really become friend of someone who you coach 4h everyday 5days a week.
-This are two extremes, but I know you get the idea.-

Try to know what do you want to be for your students, what role do you want to fill in their learning. This is much more important than it sounds.

You say you are worried about what people you coach expect from you. Well, then tell them specifically what they are paying for, no more no less, and ask them directly to tell you what they expect from you too. That way both sides know what to expect and no one will be dissapointed.

This could sound stupid, but it is really important to know all of this in this kind of relationship. People will depend on you somehow, so everything will run more smoothly if this information is placed clearly on the table.

Also, a simple google search about "how to be a great coach" or something in that line will give you tons of useful information. Don't misvalue some articles when you see they talk about football, rugby or whatever. Try to adapt that information to the terminology of esports and you will see how good some of them really are.

I would start offering free coaching for some weeks. Try to coach a fucking ton during that weeks and dont leave a day without coaching someone. After that time I'm freaking sure you will feel much more confident.

I hope this helps.
cheers!