From Casual to Competitive: How a Gaming Coach Can Help You Excel

Many gamers seek to improve their skills and performance in their favorite games. Gaming coaches offer personalized guidance, strategies, and feedback to help gamers enhance their gameplay abilities and reach their full potential.  They bolster the performances of casual individuals and pro esports teams alike.

This article covers what a video game coach is, what they do, the steps to becoming one, and how to find one.

What is a video game coach?

In order to delve properly into the piece, let us first dissect what a video game coach is.

A video game coach is a person who helps individuals and esports teams compete at the highest level. They help prepare for tournaments, identify what the missing steps to success might be, and aid in jumpstarting your gaming career. They specialize both in hard skills and game knowledge but also soft skills like communication, empathy, and conflict mitigation. They plan, schedule, and facilitate. A true one-person army.

It's also a great career if you want to work in a gaming field and make money. It's a great way to get directly involved in the esports scene. In the gaming industry, a good coach can be the difference between making it and failing.

What does a gaming coach do?

A gaming coach's responsibilities vary, depending on the game. It's going to be different in Apex Legends, Magic: the Gathering, or Age of Empires IV. Let's take a look at some overlapping qualities of a coach.

• They teach how to communicate. It's absolutely vital in team sports to be able to convey what you mean in a concise way, especially in stressful situations.
• They come up with a strategy. Thanks to watching both their own team's and also opposing team's gameplay they can identify weak spots to improve on their own side and take advantage of on the opposing one.
• Focuses on the 'how'. They break down and analyze the team composition, pick orders, items, and everything in between to make sure everything is in order on a theoretical level.
• Game Theory. They will explain difficult abstract concepts such as tempo, resources management, playing from ahead/behind, etc.
• Facilitator. A gaming coach will also smooth out the testing process. They should know how to effectively test out new ideas so that the time isn't squandered.

If we take a look at the examples of games I gave above, let's get into some game-specific areas in which a coach could really help.

Apex Legends - teamwork and communication, analyzing the arena, positioning, pacing or aiming.

Age of Empires IV - build orders for different civilizations, breaking down how matchups line up (i.e. how do Malians fare against French or English), resource management, timing, turning the corner, being defensive or aggressive, base building logistics, team composition, micro during fights.

Magic: the Gathering - deck building, sideboarding, deciding which hands are keeps, combat and multi-blocking, timing interaction, identifying when to go all-in, threat assessment.

As you can see, a gaming coach can bring a lot of utility to your testing - generally useful concepts but also game-specific tips and insights.

All in all, a gaming coach brings a lot of different qualities and responsibilities to the table, all of which provide unique value.

Steps to become a sports coach

Now that we know who an esports coach is and what they do, let's try to make it a reality. What if you want to become one?

First, you need to engage extensively in the game you are passionate about. You need to be up to date with all the builds, tournaments, pro guides, esports teams, and the whole competitive scene overall. You need to be *the* expert that knows what's going on. On top of that, you need to be willing to be continuously up to date to take up that burden and relay information in a concise form to your team. You will be a catalyst that takes all the info in and synthesises it for easier understanding and absorption.

It's also super useful to explore the necessary scientific fields like psychology, economics and game theory, or people management. If you can back up your decisions with hard data and research, your value increases drastically. You'll also know to be on the lookout for faulty thinking traps like the Gambler's Fallacy or false dichotomy, to list a couple.

Moreover, you should network in the competitive esports community to get to know players but also other coaches. You might be one chit-chat away from a potential internship.

Another great way to break into the industry is to show your value and showase your knowledge to all the potential future teams. You can do it by building a portfolio of blog posts or coached pupils. You can join Metafy to make that happen today!

Become a Gaming Coach on Metafy

Gaming coaches on Metafy can make a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars a week! There are just a couple of easy steps to become one today. Let's go through them one by one to make the process as seamless as it gets.

• Sign up - first, create an account on Metafy's website.
• Apply - then, apply to become one of Metafy's official coaches.
• Create a profile - use your profile as a resume or a bio with all the information you think might be crucial for your future coachees.
• Set up lessons  - start arranging classes
• Schedule your available hours - setup your calendar with specific availability to make sure there are no overlaps and every willing person can easily hop on
• Start coaching!

Yes, it's that easy!

Finding a coach

What if you want to find a coach for yourself to get truly competitive and take down the next tournament? Are you aspiring to become a professional gamer?

The first you could do is ask around. It's highly likely that other pro players have coaches already that you could ask for consultations. If you don't know any pro players personally, you can use the power of social media and ask on Twitter or Instagram.

Moreover, I highly suggest attending pro tournaments and different esports conventions to meet those people in person. It's much easier if you get to know them and can strike a chat.

You can also use a dedicated website that offers coaches from multiple games, from Apex Legends to Chess. Metafy can help you find the right coach to bring your performance to the next level. 

Conclusion

A gaming coach can help an aspiring player become a professional gamer. There is no pro without a good coach that strategies with them. It's a great way to get into the gaming industry as a job or jumpstart your career and considerably boost your performance. Join our Metafy community and explore this world right now!

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