Today we’ll help you figure out which coaching path to take within Esports.

Why? Because choosing a coaching path that fits with who you are, your natural skills, and what you want will directly impact your success as a coach. And we at Next Level Esports wish to help you to succeed in whichever coaching path you take.

So, without further ado, let’s begin.

It’s like deciding what mountain you want to climb.

To begin, let’s use climbing a mountain as a metaphor. Before starting your climb up this mountain, one of the first things you want to do is pick a mountain and then a path that fits you. We can discover what that is by asking questions. Questions such as:

• Which path is appealing to you?
• Do you want a one-day climb or a multi-day climb?
• Do you want a relaxing climb or a challenging one?
• What level of fitness do you have?
• How skilled of a climber are you?
• What are your limitations?
• What kind of climbing equipment, knowledge, and experience do you have?

Questions like these are essential to answer as they give you key self-insight that will guide your decision of which climbing path to take. It can very quickly make the difference between your success or failure.

Choosing a path that fits you in esports is a similar process, starting with self-insight. In this blog, we’ll help you gain self-insight with six simple questions. These questions will help you learn about yourself and prepare you to make decisions about your future as an esports coach – whether as a head coach, analyst, strategical or positional coach, or performance coach.

No matter which path you choose, pick one that fits you well to bring benefits such as higher satisfaction, motivation, effectiveness, fulfillment, and increased value that you will get to your players and team. Pick a path that doesn’t fit you can cause frustration, demotivation, not achieving desired results, and missing out on dream coaching and business opportunities.  

Six questions to help you gain insight 

Now, let’s move on to the questions. We encourage you to set some time aside to give thought to the following questions. Because the better you know yourself, the clearer and more straightforward your choices will become.

Ask yourself the following six questions.

1. What do I value? (What 4 criteria do I make decisions in my life)?

This question is on a higher level of thinking. It’s about your purpose - who you are, your values, and with what kind of moral compass you make your decisions. You already have these. Now it’s time to make them very clear in your mind. For example, do you place a high value on achievement? How much do you value helping others? Do you value status? How much responsibility do you want?

When you have insight into your values, it’ll help you make decisions in esports and also in life.

2. What is my vision? (what is my personal status in the future)?

How do you see yourself in the future? Do you see yourself as a head coach for G2 or TSM? Or do you want to be financially free through your coaching? Why do you need to pursue competitive play if the latter is true? You can become financially free by coaching teams at a lower level. Having this vision for yourself will help you to decide if you’re on the right path.

3. What is my goal? (what do I want to achieve)

What do you want for yourself as an Esports coach? Do you want to coach a world championship team? Or do you want to help as many players develop as possible? Those are two completely different goals that demand other things. They’re different paths. We encourage you to think about this thoroughly to make a better decision.

4. What are my skills and talents? (what do I bring naturally)

If you’ve set your eyes on a goal, ask yourself, what do I bring to the table naturally? What are your natural skills? Are you a great motivator? Are you friendly and relationship-oriented? Are you excellent with numbers and statistics? Do you teach people effectively? All these factors matter for your career path as a coach and in making decisions for the future.

5. What are my interests? (why do I like the things that I like)

Let’s say you’re a head coach – what do you like about being a head coach? Why do you like those things? What do you find interesting about your role? Is it the responsibility that you have? Is it bringing a team together? Why do you like doing these things? Understanding why you do what you do and why you want what you want is essential!

6. What educated competencies do I have? (what do I factually know)

How can the things you factually know contribute to your success and your players/teams? Do you have the experience and knowledge to manage a team? Are you skilled in understanding people, listening, and asking questions? These are important things to know to pick the right coaching path.

Also, take a look at the following image. You might get a better understanding of each coach role's focus points. Are you more game-orientated or perhaps more people orientated? Maybe you like to coach casually or professionally. Is your aspiration big or not? 

You could argue that the coach roles shifts depending on personality, preferences, and other factors, and you are completely right. This model is made to get a basic spatial sense of what each coaching role generally is focused on.

What’s next?

Once you’ve given yourself time to answer and think about these 6 questions, you’ll develop a deeper self-insight. This self-insight will help you to choose the right coaching path for you. Can you already feel which path attracts you the most? I'm sure you can.

Want more of these insights, more examples, more detailed, more in depth, and more practical ways to implement it to elevate your esports coaching to the next level? Are you looking to transform your esports coaching career and reach your next level by having the impact that you want and your players need, growing your career faster, coaching better teams, and learning how to position and market yourself at the same time? Then check out the Esports Coach Revolution Course, which is a unique chance to get where you want to be as an esports coach. With a community of like-minded coaches, you will learn everything you need in 10 weeks to transform your career to the next level with continuous updates, new content and courses and much more...

Questions about the Esports Coach Revolution or other things you would like to know or learn about esports coaching? click [here] to join the Next Level Esports Discord and just send a message in general chat or a DM.

See you there, coach!