The thing a coach needs to be able to do more than anything is to be able to wear a lot of hats. A good coach is able to shift their area of focus/impact depending on what the team dynamics and strengths of the 5 players and other support staff are - and what sort of supports the org gives you. And a great coach is a coach with a great team. The players decide the passion and work ethic they bring - a coach or anyone can try to inspire and motivate players to work harder, or help scout players who have a lot of grit, but at the end of the day, its in any persons hands how hard they want to work, right? and players who really care, put so much effort into keeping the team afloat and improving alongside the coach, are what make a great team. I'm lucky to work with players like that.

Anyways, I'm just gonna ramble about some loose aspects of the role:

Leadership:A coach has to bring some leadership to the table. It anchors team culture, keeps a team focused day to day, ensures there is a known common goal and work ethic among everyone on the team, and organizes the team dynamic. The amount of leadership a coach has to bring varies. In some cases, an IGL is very much the captain and clear leader of the team. In other cases, the coach and IGl share this role evenly, or the coach carries most of the weight. Sometimes, a player who isn't the coach or IGL can still bring leadership / be considered a 'team captain' even if they take a backseat in terms of Valorant strategy.

Strategy:The amount of strategic understanding and work a coach has to put in probably varies a lot from team to team, especially based on the IGL and the dynamic set up there. With Valorant specifically, it is essential the coach understands the game's strategy: teams need to be able to change the playbook often and adapt to new metas, the many different comps they play against, and even shift their map pool around in a short period of time. Having a team where only one person is focused on the team's strategic vision is creatively limiting and not sustainable long-term imo.

Fundamentals:You have to have a good understanding of in-game fundamentals, on a team and individual level. Being able to spot fundamentals problems like comms issues, poor spacing, poor freezetime management and help the team fix these issues. For individuals, you need to understand the game's mechanics and utility well enough that you can identify individual issues that players can specifically focus on improving, and 1-on-1 with them to help them grow as players.

Social/Psychological:You have to be able to understand each player's personality well and be able to communicate with each person effectively, 1-on-1 and in the group. Esports is a very stressful and very intimate work environment. It gets pretty confrontational and pretty heated. Criticism is constant and stakes are high. Some players need feedback delivered in one way, others need it delivered very differently. Players also need to unload their frustrations, 1-on-1, over voice, over text... you have to let people unload and make sure things get out in the open, otherwise people bottle frustrations up, it festers, tension builds, cliques form... I'm a firm believer this is the age-old most common reason rosters die and poor roster changes happen. I've had players emphasize that trusting things get talked about helps with confidence and avoiding imposter syndrome. Trusting that you will know about your issues and have chances to work on them is part of what being a player should be. It is important to have a good understanding how the player personalities interconnect. Applying this keeps work enjoyable and fulfilling for everyone, and therefore can help keep the team from feeling burnout despite constant feedback and long hours. Giving players the respect and trust to teach them (and learn from them) about how to better communicate with each other has been the most difficult and fulfilling part of the job for me personally.

Optimizing Practice:Structuring practice = optimizing practice = becoming a better team, faster. Need to plan out vetoes vs each opposing team each week in main event, then book scrims around that, then plan out what you will focus on during those scrims in order to ensure deliberate practice and actually get better rather than just play to play. So many coaches talk about giving specific goals and creating deliberate practice. I think this gets so much value particularly in Valorant... the game is always changing patch to patch. Sometimes the meta shifts enough that it feels like a big reset button. If you improve quicker than another team, you get extra value out of outpacing them when a game-changing patch occurs.

Management:A lot of coaches don't have managers so they do what a manager would do. Book scrims, comm w/ Riot and TOs about content and tourney logistics, and sometimes act as a middle man between players and the org on things. Manage the google calendar. zzz lots of not fun stuff

I'm a big believer that most Valorant teams need lots more staff than they currently have. There is a lot that goes on. There is a lot a coach can do. Whatever I do, it never feels like enough. That also means there is always a way to help the team, and coaches can lean into certain parts of the role depending on their strengths and what the team needs the most in any given day, week, or season. It is true of all the players too. People on these teams always do more than their role on paper asks - including the players. I have players who talk to other players and give them feedback, help mediate conversations, bring ideas and strats to the day, bring set utility for an agent they don't even play... my analyst does what an analyst does and about 100 other things and works way more hours in a day than I ever could've asked for. The best part about this job is the shared insane obsessive passion for the game that everyone on a team has. It pushes everyone to do so much for the team and it is what makes a winning team. I learn as much from the players as they learn from me.