As esports audiences continue to grow year after year, enthusiastic amateurs across the globe are beginning to develop a hunger for competition of their own. Between Indy Gaming League’s Spring and Summer Circuits, more than 2,000 new players decided to make the leap from casual to competitive play across three different games. While players can always compete in ranked matches with random teammates online, the innate anonymity of online gaming leaves much to be desired when compared to offline, traditional sports.

Naturally, some players miss playing as a team under a common banner and the chance to prove themselves among other members of their community. Luckily for them, leagues such as Indy Gaming League and amateur, community-run tournaments are great opportunities to find teammates and form a team. For some players, the chance to win a league is a much bigger motivator to improve than simply rising through online ranks. A poor performance in a league match could make or break a team’s playoff chances, or be the difference between winning a tournament and walking home empty handed.

Fortunately, the rise of amateur esports competitors is accompanied by a similar rise of esports coaches who aim to help these players improve and compete at their highest level.

To understand how amateur competitions and leagues go hand in hand, I spoke to Virge. Virge is one of Rocket League’s top mentors; he previously coached a Rocket League Championship Series team, Allegiance, before making his expertise available to anybody through GamersRdy, a platform meant to connect coaches and players.

Indy Gaming League: What’s the first thing you look for when you start to coach someone? In general, what’s the easiest mistake that people make without realizing it?

Virge: The first thing I look for when trying to figure out where my client sits, skill-wise, is their mindset. This game is extremely taxing, and if you aren’t in the proper mindset you will never improve the way you need to. Most players are too concerned with “just getting a touch”, they don’t stop to think about what happens afterwards. You have to always think 2, 3, even 4 steps ahead of the play at all times.

And it’s not just the play you have to think ahead on, you have to think ahead on everything you do. “What’s the next step in my improvement? What is it that’s holding me back? What are the differences between my play and players a few ranks above me?” This game takes way more practice than any other game I’ve played. Tenacity is a must, and the ability to have foresight is extremely crucial to your improvement in Rocket League.

IGL: What does coaching offer in terms of player improvement that hitting training packs or watching YouTube tips videos doesn’t provide?

Virge: I do my best to explain why things work in the free tutorials I make for YouTube, but there’s so much information I can’t tell you in a video because it’s too general. Rocket League is far too situational for there to ever be “one answer”. With a coach, you won’t ever get that one answer, and the time they spend focused on you will help you to understand why something works. If you understand why something works, you will be able to fully understand on your own when it should be used. You’ll also get live feedback, so that when you’re making changes to your play, you get someone telling you if you made the right changes.

Think about it this way: I have 5,000 hours of playtime on Rocket League and I’ve been playing since release. Most of my hours are spent learning things on my own and figuring out over time what’s right and wrong. Because of that I have tons of bad muscle memory habits that take even more time to break. But I didn’t know they were bad habits until 1,000 hours later, when I became a smarter and better player. Getting a coach cuts that time down because instead of spending time figuring out what is right and wrong, you can spend all that time practicing what you know is right because someone with experience guided you the right way.

IGL: What sort of results do you typically see from your clients?

Virge: To be completely honest, just about every player I work with sees immediate results. Even if it’s not apparent in their mechanical skill, every person I work with leaves with a completely new outlook on how to improve or how to think during their games. I’ve had players leave the session, and an hour later message me they just got the highest rank they’ve ever been. I don’t think I’ve had a single client so far that hasn’t made progress and I love it. I love that the thousands of hours I spent figuring things out on my own, can be converted into information that saves these people, hundreds, even thousands of hours of their own grinding towards improvement. As long as you are able to listen, receive constructive criticism, and dedicate time to the new found information/practice routines, then you will 100% benefit from having a coach regardless of your rank or hours.

IGL: What should players do before reaching out for coaching? What would make them more prepared to make the most of their sessions?

Virge: Before you get a coach it’s important to be open minded. Take a step back and realize there are better ways to do things that you do not know of yet. Most of the people I work with are very receptive, but I occasionally run into someone who booked a session, and for some reason tries to justify everything they do. As if they aren’t ready to be guided yet. Coming into the session with the thought that it’s possible everything you know to be true, is not, can be scary. It’s a harsh truth. But a coach is there to ensure you’re on the right path, they aren’t there to tell you you’re a bad player.

I try my best as a coach to make sure my clients understand not only what they do wrong, but also what they do right so they don’t feel like everything they’re doing is wrong. I can see why some people get defensive, but just know we wouldn’t be spending our hours every day working with community members/players if we didn’t genuinely want them to be better players and just have a better time while playing overall.