“I attach zero importance to e-sports being recognized as a sport,” says Christian Grollmann, who set up the “Nitro League” in Germany with a few colleagues. “That’s where most companies differ from the German E-Sport Association (ESBD).” For years, the latter has been seeking recognition from the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) and is enjoying increasing success.

For example, after initial rejection, e-sports events were held as part of this year’s Tokyo Games. It is being debated whether e-sports should be included among the Olympic disciplines. This is based on various aspects. For example, the fact that fixed rules apply to the sporting use of video games – as in other sports.

As otherwise, a direct competition takes place between several players and players are also high motor skills and tactical thinking required. At the Cologne Sports University, it was even found that e-sportsmen manage up to 400 movements per minute at the keyboard and mouse. “That’s four times more than the average person,” Ingo Froböse already held in a study conducted in 2016.

The right coaching is indispensable

Whereby this physical performance is accompanied by an increased release of stress hormones and an increase in heart rate that is “almost equivalent to running a marathon.” In thoroughly sporting terms, one could state. That’s not the only reason why more and more work is being done to base e-sports on special training. “It’s still very new. It’s part of the professionalization we’re aiming for,” says Grollmann, citing the lack of necessary standards so far, however.

That’s why he felt it was all the more important to introduce coaching that, on the one hand, serves as game-specific guidance, but beyond that, equally provides athletic tips, points out proper nutrition and focuses on mental strengthening. “There are several things that are required. On the one hand, we don’t want anyone to get caught up in it 24/7. But it’s also about frustration tolerance and team structure, as well as very simple things like the right sitting posture,” says the former handball player.

He tries to incorporate his sports experience into e-sports. After all, injuries can also occur in sports played on a computer. Anyone who spends a lot of time behind the screen and at the mouse can probably sing a song about back problems and tendonitis. Likewise, the mental strain that constant concentration and stress can cause.

“In the rarest cases, even the feeling of loneliness can occur or the pressure to perform can have its effects,” says Grollmann. This is also where coaching comes in, trying to counteract and expand structures through team building and virtual meetings. The game played is “Rocket League” – a non-violent autoball game in which two teams of three compete against each other.

Rocket League inspires the masses

That is, two oversized cars propel a ball and try to get it under the opponent’s goal. “It’s the only e-sports title where every millimeter of movement is performed by the player,” says Grollmann. The difficulty lies not only in netting the ball with the helicopter-like moving vehicle, but equally in correctly assessing movement and speed on a physical basis in order to optimally control the shot, while additionally keeping an eye on the tank filling – as well as the teammates.

And that’s over five minutes in a best-of-seven mode. “It’s very action-packed and there’s actually always something happening,” says Grollmann. The fascination has long been spreading in this country as well: live events of the league, which consists of twelve teams, are selling out at breakneck speed, and thousands of viewers follow the games, some of them via Twitch. The potential of e-sports can be seen in Asia, where it is a mass phenomenon.

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Meanwhile, the popularity of e-sports in Germany is also on the rise, with more and more clubs and organizations getting involved in the multi-billion dollar industry. Take the Füchse Berlin, for example. Since this year, the handball club has been involved in e-sports, but is going its own way. Not only do the Füchse particularly support coaching and organize team member talks with office manager Volker Zerbe and co-trainer Max Rinderle for this purpose, the focus – as is so often the case – is on youth and sustainable support.

“They give something that other clubs don’t have like that yet,” says Grollmann, who was active as a press officer at the handball club just a few years ago. “The scene realizes that there is voluntary work going on there, but a lot of love and dedication.” Until countable success, it will probably take some time. What the Foxes have already achieved is to expand their audience and reach more people with the club’s philosophy.

Hate on the net is also an issue in e-sports

And this in a segment of the population that might have remained closed to them without e-sports. In this regard, the ideals postulated by the Foxes, such as a holistic education and social cohesion, overlap with what Grollmann and the “Nitro League” are striving for. After all, the problems that occur elsewhere on the Net must also be confronted in e-sports.

“In some cases, there is already toxic behavior that is expressed towards women in particular,” says Grollmann. That’s why female professional players are the exception, he says. “If women are better, they offer more surface for attack. That’s where we try to counteract, of course, to moderate communication and ensure a better environment.” One advantage with the “Nitro League” as by far the largest league in Germany in this area is that the influence of the organizers is comprehensive.

For example, the mostly young players have to sit out for a certain period of time after misbehaving. This is a punishment that can and should have a pedagogical effect. And that, after all, is the essence of sport: making mistakes, learning from them and, in the best case, growing into a more productive part of society as a result.