Rupert Hoop, the new coach of 8Sins, is no stranger to high-level competition. Being the psychologist behind teams like Metizport at a major and ALTERNATE aTTaX when they went to IEM Cologne, Rupert knows how to compete against top teams.
However, he has a hunger for something more. When he set foot in the cathedral of Counter-Strike and saw the coaches on stage, he knew that was where he wanted to be. The idea sat with him for a while before he finally pulled the trigger after the major with Metizport, and that’s when he reached out to 8Sins.
Speaking to UKCSGOÂ Rupert talks all things from those high-level tournaments to getting into esports psychology as well as joining 8Sins and his thoughts on EPIC.LAN 45.
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted before 8Sins’ games against AaB. 8Sins lost that match and are now in the lower bracket of EPIC 45
How did you get into Esports psychology?
I’ve played Counter-Strike since I was 12, I think. So that’s 13 years now, I always loved the game. I just happened to study at university, and at some point I figured out: what if I just combine my passion and what I was studying? I saw some esports psychologists. I think Astralis was the first to integrate it. I thought it would be really cool to be an esports psychologist in Counter-Strike.
How did your experience with Metizport at the major and ALTERNATE aTTaX at IEM Cologne help you to become a coach?
I think it gave me a lot of experience. You’re working with good coaches, you’re playing against really good teams. You’re seeing how you should prepare for games and how everyone behaves in the scene. Joining in practice and understanding what a schedule looks like, all the focus points that coaches work with. That kind of thing gave me a shit ton of experience to help me now.
Rupert Hoop debuting at EPIC.LAN 45 with 8Sins
What did you bring as an esports psychologist to Metizport and ALTERNATE aTTaX to help them reach those Tier-1 tournaments?
I think it’s many things, and I think it’s very dependent on each player and each moment and each roster. Esports goes really fast, I think that’s the big difference between traditional sports and Counter-Strike. You need to reset really fast. When one round passes, another round starts, and you’re constantly in another game. You need to be in hours and hours of focus, and it’s very easy to tilt.
Keeping people in that focused mindset where they don’t go into tilt and stay focused, I think that’s really, really important. So I would say communication, energy, and focus, I think these are the main things. Obviously, you have other goals too, other typical sports psychology stuff you can do with these teams. I think resistance and stuff like that are the main things.
What drew you to 8Sins?
It was last year at Cologne, and I was watching the playoffs, because if you attend the event, you can attend the playoffs for free. So I was watching that for the first time and I really got that spark like “holy shit that’s so cool.” those people on that stage with the coaches right behind them, helping them in that 20,000 person arena and the pressure moments.
I’ve always been a hockey coach, so I think that was the point where I was like, “Do I have the knowledge? Could I become a Counter-Strike head coach myself?” I had the idea in my head, but I didn’t really commit to it until after the major, really. I just thought that maybe I should try to find an HLTV team and see what I can do. I asked some coaches and was like “what skills should I learn?” and then I looked at HLTV for English speaking teams that had somewhat of a placement, then I just wrote to them.
How do you think your experience in sports psychology helps in being a coach of 8Sins?
I think it helps a lot. Obviously, there’s a big part of coaching that’s tactics and game understanding. But the skill of coaching is a psychological and mental thing, how to coach people. It’s too often seen that you need to be a professional football player to be a football coach, you need to be a professional Counter-Strike player to be a Counter-Strike coach.
I think being a good coach is being a teacher, being a mentor, and knowing how to use interpersonal skills. It’s a lot on the mental side, I would say. That’s really the benefit I have in this role. For me, it’s about developing more on the tactical level, as I don’t have that experience playing at a really high level myself.
What’s it like coming into coach a team like 8Sins, where four of the players have been together for a while now?
I would say it’s amazing. It’s beyond my expectations. Unlike many teams, I would say this team is really strong and connected. Really strong, friendly vibes, and they integrated Cher1on really well. It’s really fun working with these guys, really good friends, really good vibes. They’re all really open to feedback as well.
When you have that core that are friends and have been together a long time, it’s sometimes hard to change things. Like, if they had bad habits or how they treat each other, but they’re really open, I would say. It’s been really good so far.
How are you finding EPIC.LAN 45 as an event?
I love it really. It’s small and people are bringing their own PC’s. It’s like it’s unprofessional and professional at the same time. You have regular faceit level 10s playing against top teams. It’s just really good having this down-to-earth event. The mix of fun and the VRS part, I think it’s cool being here and playing many, many games, meeting some people. That’s what esports is really about.
Talk to me about that match yesterday versus NXT. It required a lot of mental fortitude to pull off that comeback. What was going through your head at the time?
I was quite focused, I would say, trying to think about things I can control. I think it was 3-9 at half time, so it wasn’t looking too good, especially when you play until 13. I felt like we became a bit unfocused, and we wanted to discuss what went wrong, but you don’t really have that time. So we tried to shut that down and just say: “It’s a new half, focus on every round, and we can talk about it after.” Suddenly, you win rounds, and it just snowballs into momentum.
I think so. I heard from some people, they told me, “Usually we don’t want 8Sins or NXT to win these events, but now we really support you.” So that’s nice.
You’ve got a match versus AaB today. How are you feeling going into that match?
I’m feeling quite confident, actually. I think we’ve got to put ourselves into a bit of an underdog role. The European team has VRS and good players. We did some preparation, and from that preparation, I would say we have a really good match-up against them. Good maps, good strats, I think it’s going to be a 50-50 game. We are already happy with what we have achieved so far, so it’s a bonus if we win more games. I think that’s a good mindset to maybe upset them.
Do you feel like there’s any pressure as the furthest processing UK team, or do you feel like the UK scene is behind you, pushing you forward?
I think so. I heard from some people, they told me, “Usually we don’t want 8Sins or NXT to win these events, but now we really support you.” So that’s nice. But I don’t think there’s any pressure on us, really. Anything we do is like a bonus. It’s also not only about the results; we had some goals beforehand, and that’s to do with improving and building things. I think that’s what we were focused on, and we already had really good results there.
8Sins after beating NXT
