“When Tracer told us that the world could always use more heroes it clicked and I realized that working in a cubicle debugging software wasn’t really what I wanted, I wanted to grow up and become someone that 14-year-old ioStux could look up to, I wanted to work with people that young ioStux would call ‘heroes’.”

— Ridouan "ioStux" Bouzrou

The support staff are the backbone of any team and the coaching staff is no different. They are your teachers, in more ways than one. They are the people who are the most scrutinized while doubly act as pools of endless information and life lessons. And long time coach for hire, Ridouan "ioStux" Bouzrou, has finally made his way to the Empire State and is currently working for the NYXL’s academy team, XL2 Academy. He took a second to sit and talk to Esports Heaven about his coaching philosophy, his own personal climb, and how to truly improve -- at practically anything. _____I think two main factors affect how you need to approach a team: player experience and team culture. Players that previously played competitive Team Fortress 2, for example, are very different from players that didn’t become competitive at first-person shooters until Overwatch. There is also a big difference between ladder players and players that have previous experience on competitive teams, and differences between players who are very talented individually and those that possess the skills needed to succeed in a team environment. The other factor to consider is culture. Especially when you look at the global landscape of esports, language barriers can sometimes make things a little complicated, so it’s important to establish a connection with your players.Yes, three things come to mind here: Determination, communication, and dedication. Mangachu, Hypnott and Dogman are great examples of determined players. Whatever happens, as long as they feel like they are making progress, they are happy. They are the kind of players that don’t get mad if they lose a map as long as they know why they lost it and understand what needs to be done to improve in the future. It’s an admirable trait to have players like that on your team. Aether, Carcar and Chronodota are great examples of players that shine through communication. Whenever they practice, those three, in particular, seem to be the ones giving callouts and leading the team. Even if they’re tired, sick or discouraged, they stay vocal no matter what. I think players with strong communication skills are incredible assets to any team. Nenne, Insomniaq and Ajax are great examples of hard working, dedicated players. Nenne is someone that expects nothing but excellence from himself and his teammates, even if that means that he puts hours upon hours every day into reviewing VoDs. Insomniaq has been through a lot of stuff that would have discouraged most players, but he’s kept moving forward to accomplish his goals. Ajax’s career almost came to a complete halt, but his team managed to rise up from the bottom and secure a position in playoffs.XL2 Academy is really important to NYXL! I have talked to Wizard a bit and he is a really nice guy. His English is fantastic, so speaking to him is very easy. He’s helping us a lot, especially with the new Hammond patch being used in the playoffs. NYXL’s head coach Pavane has been a huge help as well, especially with the Korean players on the team! Practice is only as good as your practice partner, and NYXL joins us in scrims whenever we want to try stuff out. Management really emphasizes the importance of XL2 succeeding, and being able to play with and against the “big brother” has yielded amazing results!Some things happened in my past that made me more resilient to these bleak moments. I don’t want to go too much into that for now, but I think I was a little more well equipped to the harsh reality that comes with pursuing an esports career. That said, and this might be incredibly cheesy, whenever I’d feel down I would watch the original announcement cinematic for Overwatch! I have been playing Blizzard games for a while, mainly World of Warcraft, but when I tuned into the BlizzCon live stream and saw the announcement for Overwatch, I knew that whatever happens, I want to look at nothing but this game for the rest of my life. Tracer mentions that “the world could always use more heroes,” and when I was in high school my heroes weren’t cartoon characters or TV hosts like Mr. Rogers, my heroes were players like Bjergsen, Faker or Sco. I looked up to them in the same way some kids look up to LeBron James or Stephen Curry. When Tracer told us that the world could always use more heroes it clicked and I realized that working in a cubicle debugging software wasn’t really what I wanted, I wanted to grow up and become someone that 14-year-old ioStux could look up to, I wanted to work with people that young ioStux would call “heroes”. Whenever times would get tough I would rewatch that cinematic, and it reminded me why I chose this path, and it ensured that whatever happened, I wouldn’t give up. Told you it would be cheesy!Some of the staff members on NYXL including John (Northwest), Andrew and Wizard help translate for us but luckily the Korean players on XL2 speak some English and are actively working to improve their language skills through the English lessons that the organization provides. As a coach, I’ve learned to keep my sentences and vocabulary simple to help get the message across.I can’t go into too much detail about the communication structure of XL2, but communication as a whole depends on the individual players and coaching staff. You can’t just go into a team meeting and tell them “Alright, you call this and you call this.” If you really want to compete at the top, you have to change up your communication structure depending on specific situations.I think that Contenders is going to improve a lot over time, especially as the Overwatch League expands and more resources become available for the tier 2 scene. I think one important suggestion I would have is adding some personality! In the Overwatch League players are more than just gamer-tags on a screen, they have faces, personalities, their own little quirks that make them worth cheering for. Most people probably don’t even know what most of the players sound like! I think it could be a great idea to have post-match interviews with the players and staff of the playing teams! Just imagine a player like Mickie from the Dallas Fuel playing in Contenders, people would be missing out on his lovable personality! That said, Blizzard can’t grow Contenders on their own, we have to do everything we can to help by watching the streams, sharing it with friends and posting exciting clips on Reddit and Twitter. We have a lot of work to do!Contenders needs a strong and active community around it, and it can be difficult to get excited about a tournament playing a game that is very different from the one you play with your friends. While the new patch really caught us teams off guard, it’s definitely a fantastic change for the average viewer. Watching Hammond for example is super exciting, and a lot of people were looking forward to seeing him played by professionals, If a new patch can bring in new viewers then I am all for it, it’s on us to provide the audience with an entertaining experience, and Hammond sure as heck is entertaining!Over the past two years, I’ve developed tons of techniques and concepts through trial and error. Coaching isn’t just, “This is what you did wrong, here’s how we can win.” It’s working with players to understand how you can encourage them and coach them to be the best they can be. If there is one piece of advice I could give to aspiring coaches, it’s that you have to get past your own pride. The players you coach spend hours every day playing and researching the game, don’t hesitate to ask them for their opinion. It’s impossible to have the same amount of game knowledge as six professional players of all roles at once, stay humble and accept that you don’t know everything. I don’t know everything, there are situations in practice where some weird strategy gets thrown at us, and I have to ask the players what they think was the problem from their perspective. I think you could say I get a lot of my inspiration from our players. You have to show them respect and understand the various techniques that go into motivating a team toward success. XL2 is by far the most challenging coaching experience I have had in my career, but every single day I feel like I’m learning something new. _____