Athletes Support Network

Team support

For the lucky few who can call themselves professional gamers, each person will have varying levels of success. A minority work for themselves and create a brand independence which they can call their own. The rest will usually be affiliated with a team, united under one banner and represent said team at tournaments and outside of LAN events. With the notable exception of a few players the majority of contracted players will garner much more media attention than their free agent counterparts. While there is a huge difference between the two regarding job security, there are a number of similarities also. Contracted players and free agents will work with a team to achieve professional/personal goals. For the purpose of this article I will be looking at the resources a player has at his disposal within his/her support network as well as areas where these can be expanded.

Teams will have objectives or aims for their company and the players will also be expected to work in tandem with management to achieve these goals. Winning tournaments is only a part of what team need to accomplish in the year. Obviously tournament wins are great and have such a wide range of positive effects for the team but players spend a disproportionate amount of time outside tournaments that one could be forgiven for underestimating the full time job they do for themselves and the team.

Ali

Players in any sport, when left to their own devices can certainly fall by the wayside and drop from their normal routine no matter how casual or intensive it was. When players are playing well and feeling confident practice gets easier, streaming is far from taxing, it is enjoyable and a positive mental outlook is standard. These are times that minor changes need to be made, moreso reinforcement of good practice and actions. Oppositely when times are tough and wins are hard to come by there is little light at the end of the tunnel. Ladder practice can be full of cheese plays, stream chats are filled with trolls and you will just be going through the motions day after day ticking an imaginary box called ‘training’. When in a slump sometimes it is best to refocus on specifics with short term goals to gain momentum. Support networks, as simple an idea as they are, are cornerstones for a successful player. Every piece of the network should provide a benefit for the player, each facet contributing positively to success while alleviating negative factors. An elite level athlete’s support network will be comprised of mostly coaches and other pro athlete who can provide a lot of technical advice and challenge. Emotional support is primarily from friends, family and fans that have a more tangible emotional investment with the player.

IEM Winners CJ Entus Blaze

Nadal climbs to family and friends after win over Federer

Every team will/should have a team manager or player manager/coach. This person is THE most important person for a team in my opinion. Player managers will deal with the players travel, accommodation, tournament dates as well as acting as an intermediary between owner’s wishes and player’s abilities. Good communicators are vital as much of the work is done over voice chat or text online. Gamers generally are disorganised and a player manager with good planning and foresight is really priceless. I have a lot of respect for these guys who work tirelessly behind the scenes and more often than not will not get a mention unless they make a mistake which is unfair on them. A lot of planning and organisation goes into working with one gaming team let alone larger organisations that have several gaming teams. Its always great to see media exposure on the guys that are not in the immediate spotlight.

Coaches in mainstream sports are either former players who have performed at a professional level or are people with a wealth of experience and knowledge. Differences in coaching can be tactical, technical, physical, mental, rehabilitation or player management focused. With the plethora of different aspects in each you could be excused for thinking that the number of people needed behind the scenes to run a sports team would be a lot. You would be correct in that assumption with each and every person working hard to achieve a particular goal.

Physiotherapists are universally acknowledged as being vital to sporting success. Successful physio’s are sought after and receive global recognition from world class athletes looking to shave days or weeks off their predicted recovery. Until recently, there has not been enough media exposure pertaining to injuries in eSports. The pro gaming lifestyle lends itself to a higher chance of injuries with an equally longer recovery period. Players can average up to 7 hours of practice a day, sometimes a little more and with this sedentary lifestyle brings problems. High profile injuries really should advance the need for a more holistic lifestyle and an actual investment in injury prevention to offset the lost revenue from players unable to play or train. A great example of progress can be seen when you look at Martin Newhill. He is someone who has been hired by a few major tournament organisers to ply his trade for the gamers at an event. It is clear to see that he believes in the need for prehabilitation/rehabilitation within eSports as he draws parallels between mainstream sports and gaming. What is also most encouraging is his belief that gaming should be viewed as a ‘real’ sport and this is coming from a man with a vast wealth of experience. Click Here for an interview with Martin Newhill.

Martin “the masseur” Newhill working on Liquid TLO at Dreamhack Valencia

The mental aspect of gaming is also a very interesting subject. Almost every aspect of cognitive processes is open to influence. Factors such as diet, sleep, personal life, gaming pressure, jetlag, tournament schedule or unforeseen events (losing equipment, missing flights) can affect the mental state of athletes. The consequent effect of these can lead to inconsistent decision making processes. How a player can respond to setbacks or mounting pressure speaks volumes for their task application and training. Players can work into their routine, tournament specific variables that will train their mind and body to acclimatize to situations unique to a tournament environment. To completely rely on ‘basic’ training with little or no adaptation is an extremely inefficient use of one’s time. This is equally true of those looking to breach the gap between very good casual player and professional. As eSports moves out of infancy, standards are steadily increasing. Training at the same level as the average gamer will most often lead to average results. Players must be self-motivated to exceed these preconceptions of professional level work ethic. There is a direct correlation between athletes with a good support network and elite performance. With the help of a positive, creative and hardworking support system every gamer has a chance to reach their potential. Presently the support base is small and diverse but over time will grow with localized companies establishing links with various teams.

Diet and Nutrition is another aspect that is relatively undiscovered with many players struggling with the rigors of a long tournament. They can start with the best of intentions and very well laid out plans but sometimes circumstances out of their control can affect their ideal preparation. Tournament scheduling, poor quality of venue food, the lack of food you are accustomed to as well as improper timings of food can lead to tumultuous periods at tournaments. Careful timing of certain foods, maintaining a steady energy level and hydration are essential. These are simple essentials of good practice that can be experimented and honed before tournaments to find individual dietary needs. While the information is freely available for anyone who wants to look the players should be educated as a group the benefits and pitfalls of nutrition and what a good dietary day looks like and how they can adjust theirs accordingly.

Each support member working to improve a player, make him/her better with specific goals and planning is the best case scenario. It is this amalgamation of resources from motivated individuals that creates a perfect environment for athletes to thrive. It is sometimes just a case of getting the different pieces together to see what could be possible.

With eSports being underdeveloped, the expenses or potential for any of these individual careers to be viable are many years away. At the moment we have a situation where management and staff must be a ‘jack of all trades’ and be proficient in each aspect to a certain extent or be able to outsource them to third parties. In ten years’ time the backroom staff available to eSports teams might be completely different to the ones we see today. Players support networks could be much more expansive with each aspect of training being co-ordinated with others all focused on one specific goal. Alluding to my previous blog post, as professionalism in eSports continues to grow so too will the natural evolution of the eSports support network. Something similar to the below picture might not be too far away.

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