Coaches in Rocket League: importance, duties, varieties
Spacestation’s Chrome - Photo courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns
In a variety of esports games, the coach’s role became very transparent and understandable. We know what the coach does, how he is doing his job, with whom, and how long. The concept of coaching staff has developed as well. Many teams already have three coaches, each of them has their function, and each of them is useful in their own way. But what is the situation with coaches in Rocket League? We will discuss the different types of coaches we have, how to distinguish them, and what exactly they do.
Coach - analytical strategist
The coach who used to be a pro player is often a coach analytical strategist. They had a ton of experience, they visited a lot of LANs and played dozens of tournaments at different levels. These coaches can pass on the necessary experience to a new generation of players, as they have been through it themselves. These coaches include Fireburner, Chrome, and Satthew.
G2’s Satthew - Photo courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns
It doesn’t mean that only a coach with a player’s past is effective and that others are worse. Some teams need an authority coach, with experience as a player, who can influence team strategy, mechanics, and rotations. Other teams don’t need this type of coach; they want to have a coach as a cheerleader.
There is a deficit of this kind of coach. They were all successful players in the past, and for various reasons switched to coaching. Their former teammates could still be playing on top teams. With time, the number of such coaches will increase.
Coach - hypeman / motivational
The second common kind of coach is a coach as a hypeman. Such coaches are good motivators and someone to talk to with a positive aura and charisma. With them, the players become mentally stronger, they feel supported by others, and that motivates them. Surely, not everyone can be a “hype” kind of coach. It depends on the character of the person, and how they can communicate with others. Sizz and Markydooda are just two examples of such a coach.
There are more coaches like this than strategists, because not all pro players - especially the first generation - decided to go into coaching. Some retired and don't work in Rocket League, some are still playing.
Some coaches act as team managers, they help their teams get to and from events as smoothly as possible, and make sure they are looked after at the events. Some examples are Kael from Team BDS and previously Gregan in Vitality. Some organizations thereby save money by not hiring an additional manager, but by delegating these duties to the coach.
Gregan - Photo courtesy of Rocket League Esports / Epic Games
Mike “Gregan” Ellis gave details of his duties as a coach:
I had organisational roles like scrims, practice schedules, match day schedules. I did weekly 1-to-1s and team coaching sessions, replied analysis most days and debriefs after scrims and matches. I had talked between games for feedback. Likewise, I was a point of contact and 4th voice for the team, as well, represented the team and organization for content and interviews.
Additional staff
Besides traditional coaches, there are performance coaches. It’s only the beginning of this story in Rocket League. There are few teams with supporting staff like that. Williams Resolve signed Alex 'AJ' Davies as Head of Performance. He is focusing on improving the “diet, exercise, and sleep” of their academy players while helping the mental performance of their professionals to combat in-game anxiety. Or, like Renegades’ coach, Lachlan "LBP" Parker.
He implemented sports exercises in each player’s routine, talked to everyone, and got in touch. Sometimes, when all players in a team are skilled, but the results don’t come, you need to try to develop from another perspective. Many cite the Astralis (CS:GO) and OG (Dota 2) teams as examples. Both were the best in the world in their games at a certain point in time. They were assisted by Mia Stellberg, a famous sports psychologist. She worked with SK Gaming and ENCE as well.
Mia Stellberg
Many young players are playing competitively in Rocket League now. They need to create the right mindset at an early age and psychologists can help them in that. It’s a very important thing if we all want the scene to evolve rather than stand still.
Many organizations need to think about additional staff. Some of them are not ready to invest money and time in it. They want to succeed in the short term. But there are already examples where the expansion of staff affects the development of the team and the achievements in general. It’s just a matter of time for the next step in the development of the Rocket League esports scene to be taken.
How important is the coach in Rocket League?
The coach is a full member of the team. Yes, Players' input may be valued more, but a coach is a person who directly helps players to achieve the desired result. At the moment, almost every team has a coach, some of them even two. But according to Gregan, it is more important first to have good management, which, in turn, will find a good coach.
Coach is important, but good management is more important before coaching. A coach will have an effect on a team, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. Finding the right coach is as important as having one. The wrong coach or a bad coach could make a team get worse.
It’s hard to disagree with him. When as many people as possible are involved in the process of finding any member for the team, the choice will be more objective. But there is another side to this question. Management may be worse than a coach, potentially leading to a bad decision from the first side.
Retals from Spacestation touched on this topic as well.
Different teams need different coaches. Some teams just need a guy to keep the comms up and environment healthy, other teams need tactical things. I think it’s on the players to figure out what they need and go from there.
From this tweet, we can find that not every coach, not even the best, can fit every team. This you need to know, and always remember, during the process of building a team. You can’t just switch coaches from the best teams in the world. The process of choosing a coach is equal to the process of selecting a player for any team, no matter what level.
We conclude that just signing the coach for a few days is impossible. You need a conversation between the coach and the management, in which they should outline their goals and plans for the team, and then make a final decision.
