Every now and then, we all just need a little break from school, a job… or in the case of the Dallas Fuel, from Overwatch.

Each Overwatch League team has now completed (at least) thirty matches over the course of four months. The grind of the inaugural season – two matches per week, team scrims, VOD review and analysis, game-planning, and individual training sessions – has finally started to catch up with the players.

The rigorous schedule has only been one part of the problem for the Fuel, who enter Stage Four sitting in 10th place overall with an inauspicious 6-24 record. Having built its team around the core of the immensely successful Team EnVyUs Overwatch roster, many Dallas players are now experiencing losing for the very first time in their professional Overwatch careers. This struggle is further compounded when players attempt to hold themselves accountable for meeting the expectations of Dallas’ passionate fanbase.

“The Overwatch League is a good example of the scale of competition and public visibility taking such a huge leap forward in a short amount of time – going from playing tournaments to playing 40 matches in a weekly format over a 6-plus month-long season,” team owner and CEO Mike “Hastr0” Rufail said. “That pressure to perform plus the growing microscope the team is under from growth in fan bases and viewership can be major contributors to stress for players or coaches who are trying to perform at the highest level each and every day.”

Take the pressures described above, incorporate the team’s brand-new living situations and it’s easy to understand why some players have already acknowledged experiencing increased stress, anxiety, and general burnout just three-quarters of the way through the first season.

Rufail, along with General Manager Mat “TazMo” Taylor and the rest of the Fuel front office decided that last week was a good time for the team to escape its Burbank surroundings and head to Dallas, Texas for a few days of recuperation. The players and coaches were introduced to good ol’ Texas barbeque (obviously), smacked golf balls at a driving range, played a few rounds of laser tag, and even provided voiceover work for the English dub of popular anime series My Hero Academia at FUNimation studios.

The Fuel weren’t the only team that used OWL’s break between stages three and four as an opportunity to visit their home cities, with the Fusion and the Uprising both participating in homecoming tours. But chowing down on spare ribs and running around dark corridors a-la Soldier 76 – while delicious, and exciting, respectively – weren’t the only means by which Rufail and Taylor sought to help the Fuel players cope with the recent burnout and stress brought on by the demands of Overwatch League.

The team was also going to Dallas to meet with well-known sports psychologist Don Kalkstein. Kalkstein, who serves as Director of Mental Skills and Senior Advisor to the General Manager with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, has recently been working with Fuel players remotely to discuss the mental hurdles they’ve been facing throughout their season. Moreover, he has been teaching the players valuable skills that they can practice and subsequently utilize to help offset stress and anxiety. The in-person visit was seen as a continuation of the team’s previous efforts working with Kalkstein toward improving the mindset of its players and coaches.

The topic of mental health has been discussed ad infinitum across Overwatch League forums recently, and it is important for fans and the community to understand the roles of various support staff members that are now being implemented throughout the league, including the similarities and differences between a “clinical therapist” and a “sports psychologist” or “mental skills coach.”

“This is where I believe there can be a misunderstanding of what to expect from someone on staff in a performance role due to blending sports psychology and mental health therapy,” says Chris Alphenaar, M.A., who has been practicing as a state-certified therapist for seven years. Aphenaar has also been working as an esports performance coach for three years with well-known esports organizations Splyce, H2K, and TSM.

“Therapists traditionally are looking for ways to help a person work through a diagnosed mental illness so that the person can be restored to a healthy level of functioning, while the area of sports psychology is focusing on improving the performance of the athlete in the sport or esport that they are competing in.”

While sports psychologists or mental skills coaches may be brought in to assist players with skills such as improving their focus or better coping with stressors brought on by burnout, feeling overwhelmed, or match defeats, they are also able to identify symptoms of mental illness and make referrals or recommend a therapist in a clinical setting.

“With my background as a mental health therapist, I have a lot of experience identifying and diagnosing mental illness so I am aware of signs and symptoms that can indicate a mental illness is present or that one may be developing.” Alphenaar continued, “I can provide organizations and teams with feedback regarding their investment into both time spent towards competing/practicing and time spent on recovery so that preventative measures can be taken towards reducing the potential of a mental illness developing.”

For the Dallas Fuel players, their meetings with Kalkstein already appear to be paying noticeable dividends.

“I mean in Stage 1 if you had asked us to see a sports psychologist we would have been hesitant and not believed in it.” said Fuel support player Jonathan “Harryhook” Tejedor Rua. “But now, this is something we went to the ownership and said we need more help in. Everything is important and contributes to your mentality. That’s the only way you will not get burned out.”

He added, “Having been competing for three years as a pro now, I can say, yes, working with the sports psychologist recently has helped. Losing is not easy, and it is something that the team needed to be able to talk to someone [other] than ourselves about.”

Flex-DPS Timo “Taimou” Kettunen spoke on his own stressors: “The biggest contributor to stress is how you perform, both as an individual and as a team. I mean, we compete in a sport where if you don’t perform, you might lose your job.”

Taimou has been a case study of that stress, after tweeting that he was hospitalized for what doctors later determined to be “extreme stress [and/or a] migraine.” General Manager Mat “TazMo” Taylor immediately escorted him to the hospital for an evaluation, where he was released later that evening and cleared to return to active play.

The Dallas Fuel were heavily criticized when Taimou played in both of the team’s matches shortly after his visit. Many fans were left confused as to why the organization had provided so little clarification regarding the player’s medical status or the decision to play him at that time. The decision to remain mostly tight-lipped about Taimou’s status at the time was a difficult, albeit necessary one for Rufail, Taylor, and the Fuel.

When asked about the decisions made by Fuel executives and coaches that week, Rufail prefaced his response by stating, “We love our fans and I can honestly say one of the greatest joys our players and myself have is interacting with the fans supporting the Dallas Fuel.” He then continued. “We are certainly going to honor our players’ right to privacy. There are laws that govern how and who can disclose personal health information just for these reasons; so yes, while we certainly want to be forthcoming and transparent with fans, know that there are often reasons – whether at the personal request of a player or if in the best interest of the team – that certain details cannot be discussed publicly.”

Rufail also noted, “To clear up any rumors or misinformation regarding Taimou, he was medically cleared to return to practice and competition; our GM Mat Taylor was with him through the entire process, and Taimou had discussions at-length with his teammates, coaches and our staff before returning to the lineup.”

The Fuel were met with similar criticism following a series of comments made by its star DPS player Hwang “EFFECT” Hyeon on social media and in his personal Twitch chat. EFFECT, who in addition to being one of the most talented Tracer players in the world is also known to adhere to an extremely disciplined and self-imposed training regimen, announced he had recently been experiencing severe anxiety. EFFECT has been open about his displeasure with the team’s performances and has stated that losing at such a high rate was negatively affecting his mental health.

Earlier in the season, EFFECT missed several matches so that he could travel to his home in Korea for the purposes of recuperating from burnout. But after coming back to the U.S. and playing in most of the team’s Stage Three schedule, EFFECT once again returned to Korea at the end of April. Many believed that he would be back in Burbank and ready to begin Stage Four for the Fuel, but both EFFECT and the team announced that he would in fact be spending even more time abroad.

“EFFECT is currently resting in Korea and we are in constant communication with him,” Rufail said. “We want to support him in the best ways we can and ensure he comes back only when he is ready.”

With Overwatch League being the first truly international esports league of its kind, many teams have been forced to learn on the fly and make adjustments along the way.

“The last seven months have exposed our players and staff to a new type of grinding schedule, but we have made major additions to the staff recently in terms of additional coaches, and in terms of outside help, we are regularly facilitating sessions for the players to work with [Kalkstein].”

When asked about those major additions, as well as, the types of support systems the team has been incorporating for its players, Rufail was happy to provide additional insight regarding the progress the organization has made since the season began.

“We take the health of our players and coaches very seriously. The Dallas Fuel provides all of its players with healthy meals six days a week, a personal (physical) trainer and full health coverage benefits that allows any player to see a mental health professional covered by insurance. We also have multiple members of our staff – including GM Mat Taylor in Los Angeles and our Director of Operations Graham Henry in Dallas – who the players know they can contact at just about any time of the day, seven days a week.”

However, Rufail also made it clear that part of the responsibility must fall on the players themselves. “We can only go so far in making resources available to players and staff from a support perspective; our players are no different from professional athletes in other sports in that they must build a strong support network that works for them personally from the resources available to them from their teams, leagues, agents and other professional advice or help they seek out.”

As for the future of the Dallas Fuel, the players appear to be optimistic that the worst is behind them. The process may have taken a little while, but many feel the additional resources the team has provided since the start of the season have made a noticeable impact. In working with support staff like Kalkstein, for example, individual players are gradually learning how to tune out the losing, the burnout, and the pressure of meeting early-season expectations by focusing their attention elsewhere.

In another example, Paul Buitrago, Licensed PT has been working with the team to achieve a healthier physical lifestyle. Many Fuel players have attended personal training sessions with Buitrago already, including Taimou, Harryhook, Sebastian “chipshajen” Widlund, and Pongphop “Mickie” Rattanasangchod. Harryhook and Mickie have spoken about the positive impact Buitrago has had on their lives.

For Dallas support player Chipshajen, the process involves making a clear separation between his professional life and his personal one. “I think the most important thing is to find the things that you enjoy when you come home that are different than Overwatch. You have to be able to come home to something other than pro gaming.”

In the case of Christian “cocco” Jonsson, the Dallas main tank specialist says that it’s all about making Overwatch fun again. “Having fun when you’re playing or practicing is really important. I recently took a break for a month to reset my mind. I just had to take a break away from the game to get my head right for the team.”

Both Chips and cocco suggested that living in one area for a prolonged period of time has been particularly difficult for some team members, especially after getting used to traveling to tournaments throughout the world during the early days of playing Overwatch professionally. As a result, both are especially looking forward to traveling to other Overwatch League team’s home cities for future matches.

“With Overwatch League, we have all been in Burbank since November and the season kind of starts to blur together,” cocco said. “I think when the Overwatch League teams start traveling for home and away matches, you’re going to see some of that stress give way to excitement to expand the bases of places you can travel and play.”

Chips offered a similar sentiment.

“I think staying in one place for a longer period of time anywhere can be tough. I remember starting out playing Dota 2 just with the idea that it would be so nice to be a pro gamer and travel the world for free. I’m looking forward to a time where in the future of Overwatch League we can go a week here, a week there. It will be fun to see fans and compete in all the OWL teams’ cities and arenas.”

And while the team has taken noticeable steps forward of late, Rufail was quick to point out that the process is an on-going one and far from over – both for the Dallas Fuel, as well as, for Overwatch League in general.

“From an owner’s perspective, we are certainly discussing with the league what additional opportunities or services would be most beneficial to the players to set the future of the Overwatch League up for continued success.”

He also added, “I am a firm believer that the continued growth of esports will be possible only if our entire industry fosters a better environment of good mental health and support for all participants. As an organization that has been in competitive gaming for a decade, we know firsthand the negative impacts burnout can have on an individual or team. I think it is important that we are reaching a point in esports where serious topics such as mental health are being discussed openly. We need to, as an industry, break down the stigma associated with mental health and work towards solutions that are best for all involved.”