One of the biggest trends over the last two years has been the gradual acceptance of Rocket League coaches in the Pro scene.
If you take a quick look at Liquipedia, there are now over 100 pro RLCS coaches working in every region around the world.
But what about non-pro coaches? And what about non-pro player?
Needless to say, there is a growing demand for personal and more casual coaching. There is value for those who decide to take the plunge.
It might not be what everyone wants, but the exact reason to go for it is always going to boil down to personal value: from helping improve to greater enjoyment in the strategy — as a player or as a spectator, it’s the value that you gain from the coach.
But what do coaches actually do in Rocket League?
We’ve already written an article that explains some of the tells to know when you might want to book your own coach.
For this post, though, it might be more helpful to chat with some of our students who have booked and completed their coaching sessions. This should give you a better idea of what a coach would do in a non-professional setting, although there will certainly be some overlap.
It should also help you see the ype of person that might consider a session, so you might picture yourself in these questions too:
We asked three students a few questions, so let’s get into it:
1. How did you get started in Rocket League?
I got Started in Rocket League by getting the game for free with my friends on PS4. I have always been the competitive type of person with games. I basically just got addicted to the game and started playing 10 hours a day on the weekends.
(Answer by Valkyre, coached by HyperFirez)
2. What do you enjoy most about it?
Several things: it’s a game that lets me devote as little or as much time as I want. I can either play a marathon ranked session, or practice air dribbles in free play for 10 minutes.
The matchmaking is really good. I have pretty epic games daily, and it’s been that way since bronze. Even though all the players might be terrible, we’re all terrible together which makes it at least competitive.
And probably most of all is the community. It’s been a way to meet new friends, which is honestly something that’s really hard to do after a certain age, but it also lets me connect with my friends from back in the day who have all moved away from our home town.
(Answer by Rsayers, coached by 43)
3. How many hours have you played and what rank are you now?
2,345 hours as of right now. Currently, my highest rank is D1, but I’ve been high D2 in standard before.
(Answer by Rsayers, coached by 43)
4. When did you first consider coaching as a way to help improve your game?
I have always known that I’ve needed a personal coach if I wanted to be the best in the game, but I had used old replays of professional players that I had admired such as Turbopolsa, Kaydop, and ViolentPanda since I got around into Rocket League during the time of the greatest Rocket League Dynasty to date.
To get to the next level that I wanted, and that was to compete with professional players, I knew that I needed the best help I could get in the game.
Not only that, but almost every successful person has had a mentor that has helped them significantly along their journey. And as the saying goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
(Answer by Carbonino9, coached by Gregan)
5. Why did you pick your specific coach?
So I’m actually a 1s main, and also play a lot of 3v3, but realized I was pretty terrible at 2v2. I was looking for a coach to help with that specifically.
Looking through the list of coaches, his profile just looked like a good fit for what I needed.
(Answer by Rsayers, coached by 43)
6. What’s the best part of the coaching sessions you’ve had?
The inside knowledge and experience was 100% the best part of my experience with Gregan. A lot of the things I learned could only come from someone like Gregan who has top-tier expertise in Rocket League and coaching.
I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to learn from Gregan as his teachings have helped me immensely.
(Answer by Carbonino9, coached by Gregan)
Thanks to the students for giving their opinions on their experience – of course, these are just three players with three coaches. There are a lot of different benefits and outcomes from the sessions, depending on who you are as a player and who the coach is.
What does the coach do in coaching sessions?
Here is a list of some of the main responsibilities coaches will work with students during sessions.
Of course, this will be different for each one and the coach will always make it personal to your preferences, but with that in mind here they are:
- Watch over replays together through screen share in Discord to analyze gameplay
- Create a list of student main goals and objectives
- Look for potential bad habits to change
- Discussing students strengths and the way they think situations through in-game
- Create a personalized warmup, practice, and schedule routine
- Create a personalized training pack
- Planning team plays such as infield passing
- Use draw-software on the screen to highlight out what you can do in different situations
- Spectate students during live play and provide game by game feedback
- Setting up camera settings and keybindings
- Teaching recovery mechanics such as half-flipping, power sliding, and wave dashing
- Working on team communication
- Reviewing overall boost management
- Quizzing students on their knowledge, such as ‘what should you do next in this situation’
- General positioning and rotation
- Reading opponents boost management, positioning, and strategy
- Intercepting passing plays
- Prepare key points with an emphasis on rotations, decision making, and mechanics
The best thing to do when considering to book a coach is to look at their experience, their reviews and their plan for the session.
You should be able to tell how well you’ll be able to work together, but if you have questions about what a coach will do during a session you can always message them in advance.
So from there, you can check out the list of coaches available to book now, join our Discord community or read more articles around improving your skill and rank in Rocket League.
I hope this has given you a taste for what a coach does, what a student would be looking for and the value that it brings to ultimate, allow you to enjoy your gaming experience even more.
