Esports is becoming increasingly accepted as a traditional competitive sport. In 2023, the global esports audience swelled to more than 574 million, with more than 280 million of these being regular viewers. For esports athletes, competitive gaming can also prove rather lucrative. In terms of prize pool money, Dota 2 has topped the rankings for many years. The average Dota 2 prize pool currently stands at more than $4.6 million, with over $272 million being dished out since the earliest days of Dota 2 esports.
However, in order to land these life-changing prizes, esports athletes need to be at the top of their game. Becoming a leading light of S-Tier tournaments isn’t easy, with the best of the best deploying a raft of sports psychology techniques to help them keep their cool and excel where others fall.
How Does Psychology Affect Esports
They say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master at something. While the finest esports players have probably put that amount of time in at the keyboard, it takes more than hours of practice to become a standout athlete. The most successful esports players understand the importance of psychology and how it can be wielded as a weapon to secure victory.
Basic psychology can be used to improve focus during matches and fine-tune concentration. These skills are particularly vital in esports, with a whole heap of distractions to contend with, both on and off the screen. There’s also the issue of stress to consider. Whether it’s a new signing keen to prove their mettle or an established team captain looking to lead their team to championship glory, the average esports player has to contend with seriously high cortisol levels. Fortunately, techniques like mindfulness can help keep stress from soaring into off-the-chart territory.
Communication and effective conflict resolution are key pillars of an effective esports team. When players aren’t able to communicate with their peers, there’s little chance of a lineup lasting a single match, let alone taking home the top spot at a major tournament. You only need to watch a match or two from the Valorant schedule to see that disagreements between players can flare up from time to time. However, players need to know how to defuse an argument and reach a resolution quickly.
Analytical Thinking and Mental Toughness
If a team wants to win consistently, players need to be able to develop bulletproof strategies. This calls for an analytical mindset, with teams able to
disseminate the playstyles of their opponents in order to develop tailored tactics to take them down. This analytical approach needs to be pretty methodical, breaking down the key strengths and major weaknesses of every opponent. What’s more, the best strategies need to leave plenty of room for improvisation, with scope for last-second changes or a mid-match maneuver.
Finally, an effective esports player needs to exhibit textbook mental toughness. It’s a personality trait shared by the most successful athletes across multiple sporting disciplines. Those with a high degree of mental toughness are resilient and able to cope with the pressures of maintaining high levels of performance. More importantly, mental toughness allows players to roll with the punches and learn lessons from their mistakes.
How Can Sport Psychology Be Used to Enhance Performance?
Players keen to improve their performance can take advantage of many sports psychology techniques. Goal setting is one of the most obvious and can be applied in many different contexts. For the individual, goals can include everything from perfecting a new playstyle or achieving a personal best. For esports teams, goals may involve improving communication between players or amassing a certain number of points across a season.
For professional esports rosters, visualization techniques can also prove valuable. Performance-enhancing mental rehearsals are ideal for immersing players in gaming scenarios, bracing them for challenging situations when they do occur. These same exercises are also useful when practicing new strategies or experimenting with dynamic new plays.
Positive reinforcement is another effective technique that esports athletes can leverage to their advantage. While it’s important to acknowledge missteps and learn from them, it’s just as crucial that players show themselves some love when they deserve it.
Looking to forge a career in esports yourself? Whether you’re thinking of going into coaching or aiming for a spot on a top-tier roster, you’ll need to be a seriously great gamer and boast mental toughness in spades. By arming yourself with an arsenal of sports psychology techniques, you can turbocharge your performance and enhance your communication skills, giving yourself the best shot possible at success.
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