Only two Mondays left in the Nexo League before the Playoffs start, and the vast majority of teams still have options for everything. One of the highest teams in the table is Oxygen Valiantswho currently sit 2nd in the table and were runners-up in the Nexo League last split after losing to ECORP 3-2 in the final.
Spartan, the head coach of the brave team, told us a bit about his beginnings as a coachhis opinion on how the amateur is today and how he sees his team facing this final sprint.
Ask. How did you get into the world of LoL?
Respond. Well, I started out as a coach. I was playing SoloQ and ranked well, then a friend told me that coaching his team for a tournament, and I really liked that. There I entered the amateur, I was around a bit and then I went to Germany to form a semi-professional team. In Germany, I was in two teams, ROAR, which is now in the second division, and Black Lions, which is in the third. Later he went to Betis to play in the Iberian Cup, and from Betis to Oxygen Valiants.
Q. So you started directly as a coach, without having any previous experience as a player.
A. Yes, yes. He was just a high-ranking guy and knew the game… He was starting out, liked it, educating me a bit more about how to be a coach and my theory at the start was that as a player you can lead a game but as a coach you can lead a team. From there I started working, I started learning and hanging out with people who know a lot and well, I learned a lot.
Q. Your first experiences as a coach They were from Germany, how did you get these offers, how did you get this opportunity?
A. I felt that being an amateur in Spain was in my comfort zone, and personally I don’t like it. And I also understood that I had to improve my English if in the end I wanted to be in the first division, above all. That was the main reason, and he had a contact there since he was SoloQ player that they wanted me for trials As a player. I told them no, and then he saw that I was training and offered me to join the team, I spent two months as an assistant coach and then they told me that I was going to be the the head coach.
Q. Then you were at Betis for a few months for the Iberian Cup, how did you get there and how were those months in the staff of the team?
A. At Betis, one of the people I like the most, Alejandro Flores, told me that they were looking for an assistant coach for the Iberian Cup and I went there. We prepared well for Iberian, we won against AYM, we lost against Bisons, which, well, at least we tried. If I have to be honest, it hurts me a lot to lose, it’s something I don’t like. Later they told us that they wanted us for the second division project, but for non-sporting reasons it was canceled and we were left without a team. Some were lucky to stay second, some less so, but I feel very lucky to be at Oxygen. It is a team that aspires to the Second, competitive and with people with a lot of experience, I am very grateful to them.
Q. Since you left Betis, what has happened? Oxygen Valiants contacted you directly, you spent a few days not knowing what was going to happen…?
A. I was like a week or two that I didn’t know what was going to happen, because the Betis case was in December, and it was in January when Oxygen contacted me. They got good recommendations from me and said they were counting on me, so here we are.
Q. Oxygen Valiants practically renewed the whole team, they changed 4 out of 5 players after the first division, how the trials Crew?
A. When you do a good job, players obviously leave you to go higher. We are just looking for players, they told me that the project is development oriented, that’s why we already have others without this experience who have potential like Ethe, who was already up in the second division, but had some shortcomings which are now working fine to fix them. . Then we have Jiahao and Li, who are the rookies of the team, they had never competed, we took a risk for them and it seems so far it has gone well. Then we have Aaron, who we were looking for a profile of someone a little more veteran, and Eskiper, who was the one we liked the most.
Q. How do you see the Nexus League tier?
A. I think the level is good, there are teams that offer different things, which is fun in the end, and teams that are constantly evolving. Then there are others who have a lot of experience, others who have decided to bet big on this split… some are doing well, others are not… Unfortunately, I don’t know how we get away with it on the table, I never watch it, I know we’re at rock bottom, but I never felt that a team was a threat to ours. There are a lot of teams with players that I had already had, players that I respect a lot, there are also very good coaches, even some who should be in the second division in my opinion. I think there is a high enough level, not for everyone to go up to D2, but there is a sufficient level so that if it develops, people can go up.
Q. And what is the level if you compare it with Germany?
A. Something that happens to people when they are amateurs is that they don’t know how to assess the level and believe that what is amateur is very good. Luckily I was struck a lot by people who are now in higher divisions, i.e. in the first division, in the LEC too… they taught me to see the game from a very different way, because it happened to me too, so if you compare it with the higher divisions, the level is very low, and I think maybe you have to change if you want to develop talent.
Q. In Oxygen Valiants you are coming off a tough loss to Kawai Kiwis, do you think that loss can weigh on you in those two remaining days?
A. In the regular phase, we have always focused more on the procedure than on the results. That’s something I think other teams don’t do, and that’s we also wanted to use the official matches to test things out. We always left the OTPs their champion open, we tried to find an answer to play against them, sometimes it went well, others like the other day with the Kiwis less well, but we always have a lot learned. We are a constantly evolving team, we play a lot of things at the same time and we play them at a very good level. Kiwis were simply superior, their approach was better than ours and we have to learn from that, shake hands now for the next.
Q. Do you consider yourself a favorite to win the title given the current level of the team?
A. One thing that happens to me personally is that I never feel safe when it comes to doing something, I don’t care if I face the best or the worst team, I’m always a bit pessimistic because I like to prepare everything to perfection. I don’t consider myself a favourite, but I don’t see anyone who can easily beat us either, but there are two or three teams that are on the same level. If we do our job well we will win and if not the others will win, if we work well we can compete with anyone.
Q. What are you going to change in the amateur?
A. I would start to differentiate amateur from talent development a bit. A lot of people believe that in the amateur you have to develop talent and I don’t see it that way. I think that if you want to develop talents you have to have professionals to help you, which is not the case with amateurs. With the amateur you have to come and have fun, have fun with your friends and have fun playing tournaments with them. To develop talent, you need to create an academy system where an inexperienced player or coach can have a bit of feedback many people I know have it, and it seems to me very unfair that so many professionals are asked to stand out from the amateur when I really consider that it is not their job. That’s how I think the circuit is developed, and I think it’s unfair to ask for talent from a place that shouldn’t be developing it. If you want talent, you need to develop a new system of academies and jobs.