Something that's been on my mind is I feel like this scene has undervalued and underexplored the utility of having non-player members on teams. I'm talking about things like team managers (NOT the same as captains), dedicated coaches, and more. Not everyone on a team has to be on the active roster - ThreadSky

pikadave465.bsky.social • 123 days ago

Something that's been on my mind is I feel like this scene has undervalued and underexplored the utility of having non-player members on teams. I'm talking about things like team managers (NOT the same as captains), dedicated coaches, and more. Not everyone on a team has to be on the active roster

Comments

lildevilhorns.ink•123 days ago

Having a coach on my last team who really put mentality above everything was huge. Forced breaks from playing to prevent burnout, team bonding sessions, and always being a listening ear helped us keep motivation up through tough losses and Zooka meta lol

(huge shoutout to @imnishikii.bsky.social)

imnishikii.bsky.social•123 days ago

Thanks, I just really wanted all of you to grow as people and as a team and you can't do that without having time to breathe and chill out together on top of all the reviews and targets, deffo miss it and you guys 😞

cysabi.github.io•123 days ago

i think analysts and more managerial coaches that would be interesting for more teams to experiment with!

i always found comp splatoon very unique in how coaches are second-class citizens of teams

cysabi.github.io•123 days ago

esp when compared to val, where coaches are essentially the captain of the team, with control or at least influence on how they want the active players to play

hitw.ink•123 days ago

I've always loved the idea of Splatoon being like other eSports (or even sports for that matter) in having a dedicated coach who is there at all times, and stands-in/watches while you play and coaches DURING the game. If I ever retire from playing comp it's what I wanna push to do with a squad.

pikadave465.bsky.social•123 days ago

This exactly. Honestly one of the main reasons I've backed off of coaching as often is because I don't see as much improvement in my students as I wish I could give them and it's because dropping revolutionary knowledge once a month only does so much. Consistent, instant feedback can do so much more

pikadave465.bsky.social•123 days ago

But with that said that's also not something someone like me can provide to a team, because I am also a player who needs time to do my own things. Having someone be specifically dedicated to that type of contribution to a group is the only reasonable way to actually achieve it

hitw.ink•123 days ago

That's definitely the hardest point. The Splatoon community is full of people who want to play the game. I've met people who want to TO, coach, commentate, steam, etc, but they can't because their team is playing during those times. Myself included, I run into these issues as well being a player.

hitw.ink•123 days ago

There are a share of people in this community that have stopped playing on a team focus on other aspects of the scene, but those people have already taken on loads of tasks involving running tournaments and orgs. We don't have an abundance of community members who want to be in support roles.

hitw.ink•123 days ago

My hope is that as members of the community decide to retire from competing, they also see the value in roles such as dedicated coaching, team management, etc, and decide to pursue those roles. And if those are successful and show promise, it could catch on and push the scene along right path.

n8te-the-gr8te.bsky.social•123 days ago

This is something my team has been seriously considering lately. Especially when some us of have other responsibilities or life in the way.

n8te-the-gr8te.bsky.social•123 days ago

Further, 100% agree that the best coaches don’t have to be and frequently aren’t the absolute very best players.

They are good at drawing the best OUT of their players.

lankay.bsky.social•123 days ago

lowkey been thinking about this lately

it would really help push a lot of teams to a higher / top level and would cause for so many tight games and fun teams to watch

unfortunately it’s so hard to find someone to be a dedicated coach who’s there all the time- ik i’ve been looking for a while

theironink.bsky.social•121 days ago

Peace. Well said, mate.✨

m2nova.bsky.social•123 days ago

Every team honestly needs a Raze

coolspl.bsky.social•123 days ago

I wake up sometimes reciting the sermons.

pikadave465.bsky.social•123 days ago

realest shit I've ever read

mystictactician.com•123 days ago

I told my team mates that even though I'm taking a back seat from comp, it doesn't mean I'm not gonna be able to help contribute to you all & that I don't mind being their coach, so I definitely second this sentiment.

0rka.bsky.social•121 days ago

I’d be interested to hear what your opinion is on the “etc.” roles are? What unique positions can we see in teams that have not yet been explored but could add value to the team?

pikadave465.bsky.social•121 days ago

I don't have a lot of ideas right away for what those could be, mostly just wanted to express that there's also room to come up with ideas aside from those. Maybe could involve people who help in less frequent intervals, like an analyst dropping insights on the state of the meta from time to time

pinkpuffypastry.bsky.social•123 days ago

This is a GREAT point, having things like a coach and people that could help manage my discord would have sooo much time

xcuber2.bsky.social•123 days ago

That's definitely an interesting thought. In fact, it might be a great opportunity for Splatoon players/fans to get involved in the competitive scene, even if they don't feel they are strong enough to compete themselves.

pikadave465.bsky.social•123 days ago

When you look at esports teams or sports in general you have all sorts of positions and roles on teams that aren't players. You have a coach if not multiple coaches, media managers, statisticians, etc. What that does is greatly flesh out a team while letting players focus on just being their best

pikadave465.bsky.social•123 days ago

That goes into another point of I think people overvalue player skill in positions like coaching. I personally would much rather a coach with limited game knowledge but who could hold me and my team to a high standard of fundamentals every time we played than a genius coach who shows up once a month

boing.ink•123 days ago

Splatoon is SHACKLED by the perception that coaching is "better player imparting their superior knowledge onto lesser player"

splatzparty.bsky.social•123 days ago

Coaching is a conversation. Good coaches will assist you in figuring things out and provide a perspective that you don't already have. If a coach just tells you what to do but never why to do it, you won't learn anything. Istg some ppl see coaching like that "coach always knows bessst" video lmfao

pikadave465.bsky.social•123 days ago

That's basically to say I think even high level players and teams can benefit from a committed coach and other types of team management from players """below""" them. Players shouldn't have to do everything themselves, and not everyone should have to be a "good" player to qualify for other things

zyfetc.bsky.social•123 days ago

i'd agree with this if only i believed in the strategic maturity of literally anyone, i'm p sure < 20 people in this entire scene have done the prerequisite legwork to know what the heck they're talking about such that i'd trust their opinions to even be reliable
team mgmt? sure. coaching? nah

pikadave465.bsky.social•123 days ago

Sure, they haven't done it *yet* precisely because no one is that invested in it. I'd believe more people could develop that knowledge to a considerable level if they wanted to though. I also think it's fair for people to try it, realize they don't actually know much, then learn from there

pikadave465.bsky.social•123 days ago

If anything I feel like strategic knowledge widely lacking means the bar to become someone with useful knowledge on the subject is painfully low, and that should make the idea more approachable and valuable

pikadave465.bsky.social•123 days ago

I could ramble about this forever so I'll probably make a vod channel discussion vid on this sometime soon where I'll do that because I have a lot more thoughts on this and don't wish to be chained by character limits. Still wanted to throw out these rough thoughts for now and see what folks think

joythedatanerd.bsky.social•123 days ago

I think one of the biggest issues for me is how people will automatically assume that high level means the players can not only articulate their thoughts but do so in a way that’s actionable for the players they might be mentoring/coaching.

joythedatanerd.bsky.social•123 days ago

There’s a reason why GOAT coaches in sports are *almost never* GOAT players, because it’s an entirely separate skill set. It drives me up the wall when people say “don’t take advice from a div 8 shitter” when it’s just fundamentally a wrong mentality to approach things with!

santanarainfall.bsky.social•123 days ago

when I was captaining low level teams it was hard to play my best while running everything else. I got burnt out

yourmandan.bsky.social•116 days ago

I feel like coaches are in high demand particularly, but there’s never enough coaches available (this is at least going off of the find-a-coach channels in the Discord servers I’m in), we’ve been looking for a while now and there’s not a lot of options :(

imxi.bsky.social•123 days ago

Managing my own team (Fearless) is a ton of fun and I recommend people try it, especially since there are a ton of FAs on the market. It's always cool finding these hidden gems in low-level that show a lot of potential at mid-level and beyond.

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