At the end of 2016, I left the professional gaming team “Evil Geniuses” with whom I was affiliated since July 2011, and this year (January 2017) transferred along with my partner, Choco, to “Echo Fox,” a team based in Los Angeles in the US.

Player Momochi

Evil Geniuses, a powerhouse team that boasts a long tradition and earned the “DOTA 2” title, one the largest purses ever awarded in the global eSports market, is truly a wonderful team that warmly takes care of its own, such as us, in the fighting game genre, and exudes a sense of closeness, making us all feel as if we were family. With this team, I had the great fortune to earn the world title twice, and gained much experience as a professional gamer. I wish Evil Geniuses nothing but the best and hope that they become an even more wonderful team in the future. I know that I will forever carry a feeling of gratitude for the Evil Geniuses team.

Player Momochi (left) with partner Choco (Player ChocoBlanka, right)

As of 2017, I made the decision to take on new challenges starting from square one with the team Echo Fox captained by Rick Fox, a top player of real sports (NBA, the American professional basketball league). Echo Fox is a new team positioned as a new force in the market. The team puts much energy into the fighting game genre, proactively acquiring professional players with high-ranking titles in the US market, and creating a “true stance as a team” before the season opener with the goal of achieving a new history of arranging staff members responsible for all marketing (other than for games within the team) as well as the care of individual players, and building an active approach for winning over sponsors.

“Echo Fox” Website

While the genre of “fighting games” involves individual one-on-one fights, there are truly many who make up the team that serves as the supporting organization, including the sponsors who provide generous support, and the fans who watch the games and cheer us on. It is truly the support of so many that allows us to face our daily challenges as professionals.

Aside from my activities as a professional gamer, I have had the privilege of running Shinobism Inc., a company I launched with my partner Choco in 2015 under the slogan “Connecting Games and People,” with the support of many individuals and staff. What pleased me more than anything else was the kind praise we received for “Shinobism activities” from our current affiliate Echo Fox. To successfully accumulate activities “outside the game” that are favorably recognized by a team active in the world's premiere e-sports market of the US is great for our confidence. While we will continue to take various approaches to make headways into markets in Japan as well as overseas and promote the Japanese game community, today I would like to talk about something I am pursuing within the company: “Apprentice Training (Training the Next Generation).”

Apprentice Training

Shinobism accepted applications for apprentice players under the name “Apprentice Recruitment” in January 2016, and recruited three young fighting game players, 14-year-old Haku, 14-year-old Yamaguchi, and 19-year-old Johnny, after an approximate three-month screening period. In the summer, we brought these three students to “EVO 2016,” the largest game competition in the US that attracts players from around the world, allowing them to experience an actual overseas competition.

Player Momochi (farthest on the right) and the players in training affiliated with Shinobism

We are often asked about what we teach our players in training, and I will take this precious opportunity to write about my ideas of “training.”

First, training is not teaching everything from 1 to 10. While perhaps the same cannot be said for those players currently active on the front lines, players must, as a major prerequisite, make certain practices a habit, such as “thinking for yourself,” “examining for yourself,” and “practicing on your own.”

So, when a player in training hesitantly describes an action he is thinking about taking against a weak character, I sometimes refrain from answering, and tell him to think for himself and just give it a try. Then, I watcj his actual game and check the results. From there, I give the student feedback after he completes an important game.

How far can he get with his own skills? To what level can he put into practice advice from persons other than me, his teacher? What was he not able to do? In order to create a cycle or a habit of thinking for yourself, practicing, reflecting, and then thinking again without the expectations of being spoon fed, which will serve as a base within the student, I cannot simply provide on-the-spot answers to questions.

To create, before technique, a base that offers better convergence with the accumulation of technique and experience layered thereon is extremely important for an individual who will seriously face game after game for a long period of time.

I mentioned that I sometimes refrain from answering . . . The one thing that I do not want is for the student to blindly accept me alone as a teacher simply because he is an apprentice, possibly limiting his potential to learn extensively from various others. There may be many teachers, or they may be none. Either way is fine. What is most important to me is that the player in training is motivated and enjoys himself as he progresses. This takes priority over actually acquiring specific strategies and tactics in a game.

Three training scenes at Shinobism

Additionally, we never want to lock in a player simply because he successfully completed the Shinobism training program. We should not blanket an apprentice with our own sense of values or the sense of values of related adults, placing limitations on the student such as “It would be best not to compete in the XX tournament overseas,” or “It would be best not to learn from player XX,” nor should we arbitrarily narrow down options with seemingly objective advice.

The one who we want to see select player options is the player himself or herself. Whether inside or outside a game, we want to respect the options of individual players and support player decisions at all times.

In Part 2, I will write more on my thoughts, focusing on “Why Apprentices?”

■ Click here for Part 2.
Professional Gamer Momochi“How Do You Train a Next Generation？” (Part 2)

■日本語版はこちら！
プロゲーマー・ももちの「後進の育成について」（前編）

■ Related Links
Twitter account of Player Momochi
https://twitter.com/momochi212?lang=ja
Shinobism
http://shinobism.com/
“Echo Fox” website
http://live.echofox.gg/