How to Practice Effectively as a Team

Practicing as a team is very important in order to achieve any level of success. Too much time is often allocated to learning concepts that players should learn on their own time or know before joining any kind of team that wants to compete. People often think that you should be learning smokes with your team and to go over the default over and over with your team. In some cases, teams sometimes believe that is the best use of their time as a team. That could not be more wrong.

When you are telling your teammates multiple smokes at once, it is very inefficient and the player has a lower chance of remembering them, especially if they are watching a teammate’s POV.  Not only does this takes time to show and remember, it is time the team could have spent better. Learning all the smokes for a map can take a hour or more for a full team of five. Instead, if you need a player to learn a smoke, they should learn it on their own time. This helps to create accountability in the team as well as help give a window into the player’s dedication and willingness to play with a team.

What you should be doing with your team?

During practice time, teams should be organizing strategies and actually going through them as a team. An important thing to note, is that mid round calling does not apply to this scenario because every round is different. Set piece plays where you go to a certain place from the start of the round and throw smokes and execute on a site in a certain way that was planned beforehand. This can be as easy as setting up three smokes to throw on a site and pushing out or setting up a fake from the start of the round and following through.

Playing scrims with your team is also very important to build trust and coordination. No other way of practicing as a team will ever be better than actually playing with your team. It does a lot more than most people think. It gets teammates comfortable with each other’s playstyles and making efficient calls. A misconception about scrimming as a team is that people play it like a match too often. This is where you try things and figure things out. So trying strategies that are fairly risky should be encouraged here. I see too many teams try to play the same way in scrims and wonder why they are not making improvements or in some cases get worse and develop bad habits. Trying new ideas is never a bad thing, but if a team messes up an execute, do your best to try again until your team gets it right. It is not disrespectful and nobody should take issue.

Which is better? Planned or random scrims?

This is generally up to the team’s schedule. If you are struggling to get your full team online to practice, then planning a scrim at a certain time is not a terrible idea. It can help to motivate players and it also implies social consequences if a player still does not show up. Scrimming against random teams on Faceit or ESEA is not a bad idea either because it helps people learn how to play against players they have never played against and encourages players to adapt. Like most things in life, a mixture of both is probably the best option to keep things fresh and engaging. Play as much as you can even if it isn’t a team you know. 

What to do with that one teammate who doesn’t show up?

I am under the belief that any team can be great with the correct amount of teamwork. That being said, I am not a fan of cutting players for petty reasons. In a scenario where a teammate is just never showing up to practice and makes no effort, it will make the team regress and there is no point to keeping that player. Make the removal of that player valid. If the player is going through a lot of things and says it will improve (let's say he has exams), then granting the player that time while he gets through it is a good idea. This can gain trust and respect from both sides and ensure that you have a longer term player that wants to work and play with you. Do not cut a player because they cannot play for a week. That is how you create a toxic team environment and lose interest in the game.

Pancakes's Suggestion:

If you are able to have your entire team online, do your best to use that time as effectively as possible. Teaching basic concepts that your teammates should know before they come to practice is their fault and should never be your job. Playing as a team is insanely important especially for fairly new rosters, so do everything in your power to play as much as you can together. Try to avoid getting tilted or find yourself caring too much during a scrim, as it's all about learning and should be treated as such. Try to have fun and learn as much as you can! Time with all five of your players is very important so make sure you are using it to improve as a team.

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