Mindclickers

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.

In the following episode I sit down and chat with Charlie Beestone. Charlie is registered Performance Nutritionist, with experience in working in elite sport in a variety of sports including  Rugby, Football, Netball, Olympic Weightlifting, Triathlon, Strongman, Equestrian and many more. He is also a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Nutrition at Hartpury University in the UK.  Alongside traditional sport, Charlie is currently looking to carry out research on the use of nutritional interventions to improve Esports, and is really passionate about nutrition to improve cognition and brain function in a variety of settings.  Charlie's experience within nutrition shines through as we chat about performing a needs analysis for individualized requirements,  future Esports research possibilities and the use of caffeine for gamers.

In the following episode, I sit down with a long time pal of mine, Regan "Regzz" Campbell. Regan's previous experience in sales, motivated him to start and found his first online business; Player 2 Second Hand Gaming. The goal of Player 2 is to provide customers with the nostalgia of playing retro and old classics, for a cheap price. This episode goes in depth about the start ups and journey that Regan went through, from planning to execution of his online store. There are also important life lessons sprinkled throughout, that Regan has learnt and overcome along the way. Finally, there are some important Mental Health messages towards the end, as Regan and I strongly believe in everyone having support and someone there when the going goes tough. Regan's passion for mental health signs through and helps to augment Player 2 as an online retailer that not only cares for gamers, but everyone as a whole.

I am more than happy to announce my partnership with Regan and Player 2, as we both share common interests and have passions outside of gaming, that help to promote a positive lifestyle and overall positive mindset. As listeners of Mindclickers, you can receive 10% off your order by using the code "MIND10"! Money generated from using this code, will go back into Mindclickers to ensure we bring the best quality to every episode.

You can visit Player 2 Second hand gaming at the following link - https://player2aus.com

In the following episode, I sit down with Jared "PiG" Krensel. An absolute leader in the Starcraft 2 scene globally, providing content for all new, current and future Starcraft 2 players. Jared's experience in Starcraft 2 is nothing short of amazing, previously winning the  2016 WCS Winter Regional Challenger and performing exceptionally in many minor's and online tournaments. This led Jared to be required by firstly Tt Esports and then Exile 5. Jared shares his knowledge about what he felt like he did write, but also the pivotal lessons that he learnt along his way, as he stepped out of the very traditional work-life route. We also discuss in detail the importance of understanding Starcraft 2 from a holistic approach, as it has been recognised as one of the hardest games for fully learn, a game that no one can ultimately master. We touch on many underlying mindsets such as; brute forcing a positive mindset, dealing with anxiety under pressure and how to be critical but also open. Finally, Jared shares some experiences from his Shoutcasting and the lessons he has learnt along the way.

Welcome to Mindclickers; Season 2, Episode 4.  
In the following episode I dive in with Joe, an experienced telecom salesman by day, but leading and hungry Esports CEO at night. Joe draws on his past experiences when he first helped to start an organisation, followed by taking a social media manager role with FURY. Joe slowly grinding the solo Q of life and rose to the accomplished position that he is proud of today. The goal of this episode, is to provide an insight into the behind the scenes action of the thought process from an organisational perspective. How they choose teams, what gambles to take and ultimately what areas to focus on. Joe further talks about the founding of the OCA - Oceania Esports Association and the tremendous work they have done to help up and coming Esports athletes feel like they have a place to fit it. It is a conglomerate of localised Esports teams, with the ultimate goal of network and sharing the common passion - Esports.

In the following episode I talk with Violeta Ivanova, a Physiotherapist from Finland with a passion for the Esports scene. Violeta has completed a thesis looking at carpal tunnel injuries within Esports, which helps to add to the ever increasing list of current Esports physical health research. Violeta shares her experiences from her degree whilst also stressing the importance of ensuring positive physical health for Esports athletes, especially those that are concurrently focused on the grind. We also discuss Esports regulation, working within a multidisciplinary team and also touch on mental health for athletes and coaches. Violeta also talks about her experience completing and winning a Hackathon, where the idea is to hack a current problem and provide a solution. 

Welcome to S2 E2 of Mindclickers. In the following episode, In the following episode I talk with the amazing Josh "Shinobi" Abastado, as he provides a surreal insight into his previous coaching and also performance as an in game leader coming off the Cloud 9 Valorant team. Josh goes in depth as he touches on the importance of having confidence, effective communication and also marketability.  Josh also talks about the importance of establishing a positive team culture and flowing dynamic so that as a leader, everyone can go into game with the same mindset and be ready for whatever happens. 

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 1 of Mindclickers! In the following episode I have a chat with Matthew, who is a seasoned Esports shoutcaster, currently engaged in both CS:GO and Valorant. Matthew previously competed semi-professionally in Paladins, where he experimented with shoutcasting soon after. Listen to Matthew share some vital and pivotal tips for upcoming shoutcasters who are interested in starting their own series. Further, Matthew provides some insights into high pressure situations and how he deals with them sucessfully.

In the following episode, listen to Anthony describe himself being in the flow state, and having the ability to out edge his opponents mentally to be concise, and perform consistently. Anthony also talks about the importance of team communication and team culture alongside briefly talking about the impact of injury and self confidence. Anthony reflects on his online gaming experiences and his ability to perform at the highest level in ranked Valorant, recently achieving Immortal 2.

In the following episode, I chat with Tim Joyce, who established the University of Queensland's Esports program. Tim is currently interning for the Queensland Firebirds Netball team, expanding his marketing network and gaining insight into the industry. Listen to Tim reflect back on his time developing the Esports program and the requirements in place to ensure it ran efficiently and effectively for upcoming students. Tim shares fantastic stories about the hardships of the program, ensuring that upcoming students have an opportunity to perform and compete in regulated Esports environments.

In the following episode, I chat with Jack "Wryce" Birmingham who is currently a free agent after coming of the Dire Wolves Valorant roster. Jack talks about his experience in Esports and what it took to transform from casual gameplay to competition. Listen to Jack breakdown different Valorant scenarios as we discuss the variations and dynamic differences that makes Valorant stand out and shine. We also touch on the importance of OCE Esports and how as a region we can develop to become a contender at an International level. We finalise it by getting an insight into various game specific scenario's and how Jack would react in each of them. 

In the following episode I chat with Alex Blaikie, who works at ESL Australia to help promote, market and organise large scale events including the Intel Extreme Masters in Sydney. Alex also previously developed Gadget Games, where he created the first standalone battle royal game "Down to one". Listen to Alex talk about the future of Esports in the ANZ region and share some interesting stories from his time at ESL.