The Men Behind Gama Bears

 The heroes behind Gama Bears: (from the left) coach 4 Leaf, coach Ryuzaki, manager Alan Chang and coach Momo. 

Players shine on the stage, receiving applause and support from their fans. After winning the champion, the players almost always mention their appreciation for the coaches or the team leaders, however these are usually the ones that are ignored. These people, working staff, team leaders and coaches almost never made it to the front page but do you know how influential their existence are to the team, and how indispensable they are? G!VOICE will show you these unknown heroes work behind the scene!

 Organization Chart of Gama Bears
 
 

The Team’s Fuel and Engine—the Coaches 

Currently Gama Bears is said to be the only team in the league that has three professional eSports coaches for three different games. Coaches Momo, Ryuzaki and 4 Leaf generously shared their feedbacks and thoughts on leading the teams during the interviews with G!VOICE. Even though the coaches may not match the technical level of the current players, they play instrumental roles in psychological counseling and managing the tempo of the game. 

Management Style: Adopting the Same Routines As Team Members

Each coach has different leading style, for example SF members are relatively younger, coach Ryuzaki placed focus on life disciplines, including asking everyone to gather and dismiss at the same time etc. He cultivates team spirit from the most basic daily routines. Now the team members don’t even need the coach to monitor them because everyone is used to eating together, going on breaks together and returning to the dorm after work together. This kind of intimacy and connection could eventually reflect on the live games and this year’s champion is the best proof of that. 

The players in SF have already got used to team life, they do everything together as a team. 

Adjusting Players and Maneuver is not an Easy Thing 

In addition, the coaches need to spend more time and effort on players’ adjustment and maneuver, take KR for example, after rising star, Owen joined the team, the coach faced the dilemma: Which three out of the four should they select for the battle? After months of observation and attempts, coach Momo finally made a bold arrangement: making team leader Sakugetsu the backup player! It was not an easy thing to sit this three time MVP player in the corner. It was a difficult decision too considering Sakugetsu has many fans and the coach was under a lot of pressure. Communication with the players is another potential problem. Momo ‘s choice made Sakugetsu the commander of the battle field. Instead of personally attending the battle, he waited in the back to give his teammates feedbacks and strategies, thoroughly wielding his power and value as a senior player. Finally under the help of the coach and Sakugetsu, Owen also successfully integrated with the team and entered into the championship, which was a unfulfilled goal last year. 

Handling Various Situations in the Game as Players

The most unique coach of all is said to be coach 4 Leaf of SCII. He is a veteran and renowned Star Craft player in Taiwan and a good friend of the Worm King, Sen. This special experience enables him to handle all kind of contingencies happening during the game from the player’s perspective. He is also able to provide players with the planning and experience from his personal experience of attending international games. Initially, before joining the coach team of Gama Bears, 4 Leaf decided to give up his qualification for studying in the graduate school in Japan. He returned to Taiwan for the team and is now witnessing the eSports miracle with his eyes and hands. 

Calm Navigator: Team Leader

The players success and failure may be connected with the coaches, but the whole team’s success and failure lies in the hands of team leader. Gama Bear’s team leader is like every member’s father and mother. He is always thinking how to push this team forward, how to get through the rock bottle and how to make eSports shine in Taiwan, even in the world. He is the leader of Gama Bears team, Alan Chang.

Team leader of Gama Bear, Alan Chang

GTW-MKT-Alan Chang

Be Part of the Team and Contribute Accordingly

When asked about the players in the team, Alan was quite satisfied and pleased with these young players. Generally speaking, the players in Gama Bears have high honor and are very competitive, although sometimes they may even lose their direction for it. As a leader, his job is to help them build up a healthy psychology and give support and help to these players. In the 5^th year of TeSL, Gama Bears lost the title of seasonal championship but under the encouragement of Alan and emotional readjustment, everyone managed to earn the ticket to the grand final. And eventually and most importantly, they won the title of grand champion. 

 When Gama Bears first teamed up, Albert (upper roll, 4^th from the left) had a group picture with all the players. Alan (upper roll, 4^th from the right) has been looking after Gama Bears, watching it grow stronger. 

For Alan, the core thinking for these players lies in their abilities to discover the strength of the team. When a player feels that he is part of the team and contributes, the team would feedback accordingly. In doing so, the team will grow stronger and maintain a survival attitude where they treat each game as their last game and fight for the victory. Alan gave these young players another important belief: it is when everyone recognizes his own role and own worth can Gama Bears prosper. 

 In each game, Alan (2^nd from the right) always stands on the side and cares for the players. 

Expanding Cross-Strait Market—Summon New Energy for eSports

When asked about the future of eSports, Alan was very confident about its prosperous future. However, he also mentioned that the current task is to actively expand cross-strait market. He believes that if Taiwan could collaborate with China, we would become a fierce force to be reckoned with in the world. Taiwan’s advantage in soft culture is not to be overlooked. This is the overall trend in the eSports field. Many Taiwanese companies have sponsored overseas eSports games or teams. Through exploring cross-strait market, it is important that we could attract these outflow funds. As for the future of Gama Bears, Alan sincerely hopes that Gama Bears could increase international popularity and work with the company more effectively so we could create more revenue and obtain the honor and glory that Gama Bears as well as the eSports deserve. 

 In the future, we will be working with China and found a new era for eSports!