Team Spirit coach: "I have a certain vision of how they need to play. I think that Danish CS is the one"

Team Spirit coach Sergey "hally" Shavaev sat down for an interview for the club's YouTube channel, in which he spoke about getting into the team and shed some light on the training process. In particular, the Russian specialist shared the details of choosing new players, which the team had to do following the recent departure of AWPer Abdul "degster" Gasanov.

We gather a shortlist of players we've heard of and whose matches we’ve watched. Then we decide on a player, let that be player A. I look at his career and try to find out more information about him, who he worked and played with, I need to see the whole picture. In a team game, it’s important that people suppress their egos, the team goes first. Then I look at their demos and check how they make decisions. For me, the main thing is: first, how a person develops and grows, but you wouldn't understand it right away, you’ll need some time for that; second, how he thinks in critical situations; and finally, his sense of timing. 

At the end of June, Team Spirit announced the signing of 17-year-old Igor "w0nderful" Zhdanov. The introduction of a new player is always a long process, but the training of the inexperienced Ukrainian esports athlete comes easy, despite his young age, hally assured.

When you take on a new player shortly before a tournament, you have to make him feel comfortable and make him aware of your requirements. This process will take some time and effort with w0nderful. He's a young player, he's only 17. So I think he’ll be fine. 

The coach of Team Spirit also noted that the team's current playstyle resembles the Danish Counter-Strike school.

That's interesting, the style is determined by the coach, but the coach can make it either for himself or for the players. I’m somewhere in between. I have a certain vision of how they need to play. I think that Danish CS is the one. Discipline and dynamics are interchangeable.

The debut of the renewed Team Spirit roster will take place at IEM Cologne 2022, kicking off today, July 5, from the Play-In stage. The first opponent of Shavaev's men will be Complexity, with the match starting at 12:00 MSK.

The video has English subtitles.