Mindclickers

Ian's passion for Halo is some of the best that we've heard, as we chat about the history of Halo as an Esport and how it progressed to be one of the most popular games.  Ian has had his fair share of experiences within the Esports scene, especially as a player and coach where he adopted a holistic mindset towards his player's performance

Topics covered in the following episode;

• Halo origin and competitive days
• Importance of maintaining gameplay to life balance
• Impact of unhealthy eating habits upon performance
• Insight into coaching and tournament organization days
• The United States Marine Corps involvement within Esports
• Development of Esports regions
• The future of Halo Infinite
• Final words and advice

Kaplan's insights and passion for competitive Esports really shine through, as we explore a few varying topics that are being talked about within the scene. Kaplan has completed a Bachelor of Psychology at the University of Washington.

In the following episode we chat about;

• Building a team culture and exploring team dynamics
• Balancing study and work as a professional player
• Competitive comparison of Valorant vs CS:GO
• Insight into Valorant roles and key meta
• Impact on player personality onto their ingame role/character
• Importance of understanding player self-confidence
• Versatility as a Coach
• Coaching styles (Authoritarian vs Democratic)

In the following episode, I chat with Dave Harris,  who is the managing director at Guinevere Capital, currently involved in consulting and managing multiple esports projects including London Spitfire, XL Esports, and the Esports high-performance centres at the Sydney cricket ground and Eden park stadium and also apart of the new League of legends OCEANIA CIRCUIT 

The following topics of the episode include;

• Introduction to high-performance centers
• Implementation of Univerity Esports Programs
• Traditional sporting teams adopting Esports
• Teams investing in external Allied Health Professionals
• The ecological model of Esports Regions - Asian vs Western
• OCE Esports regional development
• Insight into London Spitfire + XL Esports
• Esports Broadcasting

Casey Thomas is an Elite Performance Dietitian, who does private practice work, and works with the University of Los Angeles (UCLA).  Casey also wrote a thesis looking at energy drinks and their cognitive effect on elite-level league of legends players. 

Visit Casey's nutrition website here -> https://gamerdiet.gg/

In the following episode, we discuss

• Working with high-level athletes
• The transitional process from traditional sport to Esports
• Esports nutrition -> What this means and how we can introduce it for players
• Regulation surrounding nutrition for youth
• Supplementation and its benefits
• Caffeine protocol
• L-Theanine
• Adderall
• Intermittent fasting
• Keto diet

Zack's experience within the League of Legends scene is expansive and it shows as he speaks about his experiences shoutcasting, coaching and playing. Zack and I sit down to chat about the following topics

• Playing for Sequential, Mindfreak, Eviscerate, AGA, LGC
• Time as coach for Avant
• OCE Scene - Rivalry in international space
• Mental toughness and tilting in game 
• Cognitive fatigue
• Team dynamics
• League of legends game periodisation
• Exercise science - Tracking physiological values
• Shoutcasting experience in China

I am joined here today by Robert Yip, previous performance coach for the previous Misfits and Immortals, and head coach for FlyQuest. Robert has worked 5 years in the 2 in LEC, 3 in LCS,  3 splits as a head coach and 7 as a performance coach, alongside as having 8 years' experience working in traditional sport.

Apologies for interruption at 65 Minute mark -> Editing error.

In the following episode we discuss, 

• Previous experience in SC2 with TLO
• Mindset of a performance coach, what does performance mean?
• Self efficacy and feedback sandwhich
• Confidence and mentality
• Preparation for understanding failure vs winning
• Mindset towards elite level competition
• Concentration under pressure
• Importance of Team dynamics and communication

In the following episode, I had the pleasure to chat with Michael Gradisar - a sleep scientist, sleep psychologist and professor.  Michael's experience and passion for sleep has allowed him to publish research alongside creating winksleep.online that features blogs, courses and books. 

The following episode touches on the following;
1. Importance of sleep schedules and the role they play for students
2. Accountability for Esports organisations
3. Travelling and jet lag for players interstate and internationally
4. Burn outs and caffeine impacts
5. Sleep monitoring and wearables
6. Previous research; South Korea Esports athletes

In the following episode, I chat with Dr Ryan Terao, a licensed clinical psychologist who works within the Esports industry as an Esports psychologist, mental performance coach and Esports program developer. He has experience working in League of Legends, Rainbow 6 Siege and Valorant.

The following episode features the following topics;

• Creating buy in with players and coaches
• building a dynasty and battling the ups and downs
• Roster rotation culture
• Leadership adoption and importance
• Team culture
• Cognitive dissonance 
• Emotional regulation
• being a support player
• Tapering Esports and cognitive fatigue
• Self confidence and Self Efficacy
• Mental toughness
• Choking - Titan vs Underdogs
• Mindset of a troll.

In the following episode, I chat with Hector Melendez, a Strength and Conditioning coach from the US, with a passion for everything health and Esports. Hectors passion lies within his business, as he helps coach clients through exercises as an S&C Coach,  directly improving their quality of life. Further, Hector is also the Head of Fitness over at Gscience, where he helps to create videos that have a widespread positive effect on the community and the people within it. 

Episode contents;

• Importance of physical exercise for Esports players
• Sport science implementation within Esports - HR/Breathing
• Posture and the effects of ensuring proper ergonomics for Esports players
• Exergaming - How this can be adopted by general populations and traditional athletes

In the following episode, I had the pleasure to sit down and chat with Connaire "Concentric" Delaney Mcnulty from Tent England, an Esports Performance Coach working with Enclave. Connaire also has a background in martial arts, being an amateur world champion in 2015. He also has a first class degree in sports performance, with the majority of his 3rd year work focused within esports, and studying an esports MA at the moment. Alongside this he has a few pieces of research within the submission process with the International Journal of Esports. With the majority of his work looking at the links between player wellbeing and health and their cognitive performance, aiming to assess and improve cognitive key performance indicators through physical exercise, nutrition and sleep.