eSports is booming – and it’s a huge business. Acceptance of eSports in society is also growing. Sebastian Bauersachs can now make a living from his coaching work. The professional coach also passes on his knowledge to school classes.
A small room with gymnastic mats on the floor, a wall bars hanging on one side. Some things here are more reminiscent of a yoga studio than a room at the State Center for eSports (LEZ) in Kiel. Most of the students from the Regional Vocational Training Center for Business (RBZ) also look surprised when Sebastian Bauersachs starts his League of Legends training session with a workout.
When playing computer games, it’s mainly the neck, forearms and torso that are stressed, explains professional trainer Bauersachs, emphasizing that eSports doesn’t mean sitting in front of the PC or console all day and playing – possibly with chips and Coke on the couch. He takes a holistic approach with his training. “We start with sports, because sports benefit the mind just as much as the body. Only then do we start into the actual game, because performance automatically increases if we’ve done a warm-up session in sports beforehand,” says Bauersachs.
Warming up and stretching
The twelfth graders work up quite a sweat doing jumps, quick triple steps and push-ups. Then they stretch their neck and forearm muscles. “I’ll definitely incorporate the stretching exercises,” says René Mohr, who plays on the computer almost every day in his private life. Mattis Kuschnerus plays three to four times a week, and he also thinks the warm-up makes sense. For him, however, it could have been even more strenuous.
Teaching project aims to educate about eSports
The students of the business informatics profile at the RBZ Wirtschaft in Kiel are dealing with eSport in a classroom project. Contents are the (addiction) dangers, challenges and also professional opportunities that arise from eSport and gaming. They also want to reflect on their own gaming behavior. Therefore, the students play League of Legends and have also registered for the German school championship. The training at the LEZ with Sebastian Bauersachs was actually supposed to be preparation for the finals in February 2022. However, the students did not make it through the preliminary round. Therefore, today is now the conclusion of the project.
League of Legends: Five against Five
After the warm-up, we continue with a theory session. “League of Legends is actually the biggest eSports title that currently exists,” says Bauersachs. In the strategy game, two teams of five play against each other and try to capture the opponent’s base. Each player takes on the role of a character. Since the performance gap among the students is large, Bauersachs chooses relatively simple content. Without prior knowledge, however, it is impossible to follow the full-time trainer’s explanations about waves, rotation ganks or minions. He uses recorded moves from professional games to illustrate what he wants to see from the students later in the game.
Bauersachs: Psychology studies abandoned for eSports
Bauersachs had actually studied psychology, but when the soccer club Eintracht Frankfurt came knocking and asked if he wanted to coach the League of Legends professional team, the Kiel native hung up his studies. Since then, he now earns his living with eSports. At the beginning of January, he changed employers and is responsible for the newly founded team “Kaufland Hangry Knights”. Bauersachs aims to lead it to the top of the Prime League, the German professional league.
Computer gaming promotes cohesion
It’s off to the PC for the students. They play against each other in two teams – in two separate rooms. Bauersachs is on hand to advise them. “We not only have a sports component, but also an educational and a social component, the students connect with each other,” says the coach. In this way, the young people also play with classmates with whom they otherwise have less or nothing to do, and get to know each other better. Communication during the game is also very important, because the next maneuvers in the game are discussed with each other via the monitors. It is correspondingly loud in the gaming room.
Acceptance for eSports is growing
Before the pandemic, first-person shooters and sports game events filled the largest halls in Germany, such as the Lanxass Arena in Cologne or the Barclays Arena in Hamburg, with more than 6,000 spectators. This area has suffered in the pandemic due to the Corona measures, says Martin Müller, head of the State Center for eSports and Digitization in Schleswig-Holstein. Nevertheless, he sees a dynamic development of the eSports scene in the state. Clubs have opened eSports spades, in addition eSports clubs have been founded. “We have had area funding in Schleswig-Holstein for two or three years, so that clubs and organizations can equip themselves with infrastructure and with technology,” Müller explains.
State provides millions in funding
Since 2019, more than one million euros from state funds have flowed into eSports projects – making Schleswig-Holstein the front-runner in the federal government. For 2022, the Ministry of the Interior has just allocated another 120,000 euros. The state is funding the planned establishment of four more regional eSports centers with 250,000 euros. “The great demand for project support continues and is the best proof that the need for a comprehensive eSports infrastructure according to our ideas and specifications in Schleswig-Holstein remains high,” informs Interior State Secretary Kristina Herbst. However, she clarifies: “Prevention of online gaming addiction, the teaching of media competence and a balancing exercise offer are components of our funding requirements.”
Pandemic causes sales figures to rise
During the pandemic increased according to a study by the West Coast University of Applied Sciences, sales of computer games increased – and more were played. Especially the area of “casual gaming,” i.e., playing games “at home,” has increased in the past two years, as Müller confirms: “We had times when the students were completely at home. I, too, have been playing a bit more because there was suddenly more time.” Consumption of tournaments via live broadcast has also increased, according to Müller and the FH Westküste study.
eSports reaches almost all areas of society
Skepticism about the industry also has a lot to do with ignorance. For Bauersachs and Müller, one major cliché of eSports no longer applies – namely that gamers play through the nights alone in their dark little combs and are always on the verge of gaming addiction. Due to the growing structures, eSports has reached almost all areas of society. The LEZ also trains coaches who bring knowledge, competence and concepts to the clubs, and that increases acceptance.
“The whole thing becomes haptic and touchable. A parent suddenly sees: man, he really meets with others, plays together with them, trains together with them, and also tries to get structure into his playing,” explains Müller from the LEZ. That can also happen online, he says, but it’s not seen there. “The moment the training clothes are packed, maybe the mouse, keyboard and headset, and you say, ‘I’m going to training’ – it’s a very different feeling for a parent,” Müller says. In addition, parents and relatives can get information about the hobby from trainers or even have it shown to them.
Earning fast money through eSports?
Back to the business informatics students’ training game. Such training sessions also promote acceptance, because the twelfth graders are mulitplicators in the schoolyard or in their personal environment. There, too, many know too little about the structures in eSports and that there are also opportunities to earn money. However, quick money cannot be made in the industry. “The top players have already bagged several million euros in prize money in their careers, in addition to their monthly income from their teams and sponsorships. But the road to get there is long and rocky,” Bauersachs says. “It’s all about hard training. Anyone who wants to go that route has to understand that it’s very intense work and very often it’s probably not that much fun.”
Video analysis from professional trainer
After about 30 minutes, the training game is over, but the session is not yet. Finally comes the critique. Bauersachs recorded the game and can use various situations to show exactly where the players implemented his instructions and where they did not. The coach is very satisfied with his protégés, “because you could clearly see that there were not only approaches, but in some cases entire concepts were implemented.” Even if the execution was still lacking here and there.
Pupils draw positive conclusions
Students also leave the session with a positive feeling. “It’s quite complicated, even though I’ve played the game before. I definitely learned something, but I also didn’t take away everything that was said today,” says René Mohr, who especially wants to change his attacking behavior during a so-called “wave” in the future. Mattis Kuschnerus also wants to optimize his wave behavior: “When to go in and when not to go in has helped quite a bit. I wouldn’t have known that like that.”
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