“Esports athletes have to be willing to take coaching, to commit to a team environment. That’s the differentiation between being a gamer, even a really good one, and an esports athlete. These students have probably spent a lot of their gaming lives practicing in a solo-queue environment, or maybe playing with friends, and the focus hasn’t been on maximizing training time or efficiency.”

So says Robert Skinnion, Director of Esports at SPIRE Academy. Of course, lots of students, probably most of them, find high school to be a time of great acceleration. They’re busier than ever with academics. Their social life has probably heated up. Throw in a sport. And then wrap it all up in a sports boarding school like SPIRE, where expectations are especially high. Time is suddenly precious, and there’s no more “just winging it.” Coach Skinnion gets it, all too well.

“We’ve seen a lot of bad habits over the years,” he offers, “like students on phones between matches and during practice. These bad habits lead to a lot of wasted time. Students have class, homework, a social life, etc. So we want practice to be as locked in and focused as it can be. This can be a tough adjustment period, but it’s what will be expected of them in collegiate esports, so it’s better to develop good habits proactively. This is part of the SPIRE coaching process.”

The good news for the upcoming season is that the Esports team is more than up to the challenge. Training is going well, and Coach Skinnion and the other SPIRE Esports coaches have spent the first few months of this year hammering fundamental skill sets and laying the groundwork for the team chemistry that will be important in the college showcase matches. “My coaches have been putting a lot of time into one-on-one drills, scrims and VOD review with the team. The first few months are always tough as everyone has to adjust to a much more rigorous training environment, but this will pay off later when it’s time to compete.”

On that note, there are some events coming up worth keeping an eye on. Stay Plugged In is running an end-of-year series of collegiate recruiting LAN events that the team is eager to attend. The Carry 2 College Showcase takes place in February. The Chicago LAN, and/or a Campus Series LAN, will be held in the spring. “These events are fun for the players and they get them in front of some great college programs,” offers Coach Skinnion. “At some point we’ll investigate another event series for Geneva. We’re still working on what the capacity would be for that, but we’ve done some exciting local events in the past that we’d like to do again. There are a lot of gamers in the area, and it’s always exciting to be able to build participation in esports locally.”

Last year, SPIRE Esports had strong performances at the college-recruiting showcases, and is looking for repeat performances this year. These showcases are important for the obvious reason that they put SPIRE athletes in front of college recruiters, but also because such events offer a taste of what competing at that level will be like. Coach Skinnion: “Our focus here at SPIRE is creating an esports skill set that’s transferable to the collegiate environment. The level of coaching, the style of coaching, and the lifestyle at SPIRE all prepare our student athletes to be successful playing in college. We’re always trying to develop a team-first mindset, along with the individual skills that go along with it. Coaching is at the core of what we do here, and our coaches work with and treat the players in a manner consistent with what’s expected of college players. And then—after layering in the performance, nutrition and mental-conditioning aspects—it all adds up a skills foundation our players can take with them to the next level.”