Germn Micciullo, a 25-year-old porter, is called El General. A nickname that, given his responsibilities, does not come entirely wrong. He arrived in Spain last July to become the coach of the only Football Club Barcelona team that can still compete despite the coronavirus crisis: that of the Rocket League of the Barça section of Barcelona. eSports. For the Nephites, it is a sports video game developed by Psyonix in which they are the cars, and not the booties of the footballers, who are responsible for scoring goals in three-on-three matches. Along with the legendary Street Fighter and under the protection of the International Olympic Committee, Rocket League should open through an exhibition tournament those Tokyo Olympics of uncertain celebration. Community gamer resist against Covid-19.
Barcelona is one of the great clubs in the world that have invested resources in recent years in eSports, an industry whose billing in 2019 reached 1,000 million euros, with audiences of 443 million viewers, according Forbes. In addition to its professional Rocket League team, the Catalan club has one of efootballPES 2020, the soccer simulator of Konami. With a difference. The latter, whose matches were being played in a complex in the Barcelona town of Rub, has seen the competition suspended due to his face-to-face character. Something incompatible with the containment measures applied by the coronavirus.
But the good thing about them eSports is that we can keep up the pace so on-line. It is not like any traditional sport in which you have to go to a court to play against your rivals, Micciullo intervenes in a telephone conversation with EL MUNDO. Barcelona played against Mnaco this past Sunday. Each participant from his home room. Everything in person stops. The on-lineOf course, it continues, proclaim sources in the sector, despite admitting that the cancellation of events in halls and stadiums will cause significant losses.
The address remains
The Rocket League, although it has canceled the world final to be played between April 24 and 26 in Dallas -the previous one took place at the Palacio de Vistalegre-, however, its regular phase continues. The tournament distributes close to a million dollars in prizes (870,000 euros among the four divisions). And players can play them from their homes or from high-performance centers. Three 19-year-old boys make up the Barça team: the English David Morrow (Deevo), the dans Aldin Hodzic (Ronaky), and Hrant Yakoub (Flakes), with an Armenian and Netherlands passport. Until the Covid-19 did not corrupt all daily activity, the three trained and competed in a center set up by the Bara, which also takes care of their homes..
During the season we all reside in Barcelona. We take care of being close to the three of us, training and improving. And we do it in the same space that the club offers us, with a more than decent connection and with very high-level computers to be able to compete, explains Micciullo, who then admits that there is continuity beyond the viral point and apart.
After the coronavirus crisis broke out, we preferred that the three boys go with their families to their country of origin. Less David, who by his own decision decided to stay, admits his coach. Annoying not being able to have direct contact with all of them now, supporting them personally. It is always much better than using a screen. But we can all be connected together through Discord, a program that we use daily.
What the players cannot count on now, beyond the psychological support provided by the club, is with the personal physical trainer, key to so many hours sitting in front of the PC monitor and with fingers constantly percussing.
But our workouts are based on constantly playing friendlies. And it is as simple as sending a message to the captain of any other team and telling him to play at that time, warns Micciullo.
The only Spanish in the elite
Although there are still teams that choose to gather their players. Especially in England, where the Boris Johnson government has chosen to deal with the coronavirus without containment measures. Nacho Gimnez (Nachitow), 20-year-old from Zaragoza and the only Spaniard who plays in the first category of the Rocket League, admits to EL MUNDO the doubts he had when he traveled last week to Watford to join his teammates, the British Endpoint, in the game. Normally, I am used to playing tournaments from home. But when the situation arises that something important is at stake, I know it is true that we like to meet to improve motivation. In fact, the training is done from Zaragoza. Nacho also admits the possibility of economic repercussions: I know that there is some fear of not being able to collect the salary due (to the crisis) of the coronavirus, but it would not be a serious problem for me because I combine the game with the studies.
It is the Twitch and YouTube platforms that are responsible for the worldwide broadcast of the Rocket League days, reaching in five hours of play an average of 70,000 spectators, with peaks of audience of over 100,000.
But let no one think that we are just people locked in their room with a joystick in hand. There is a vision of what the gamers and electronic sports that is not tight. We are like any boy or girl, with our friends, family behind, and also other hobbies and ambitions, defends the young Argentine coach.
Global adaptation
Electronic competitions adapt on the fly to this new reality. Counter Strike and Starcraft II ESLs are played behind closed doors in Katowice, Poland, but other tournaments have ensured their survival passing its format to on-line (see Chinese League of Legends League, Tekken Pro Championship or PUGB Mobile Pro League).
In fact, Ibai Llanos, the famous voice of electronic sports competitions in Spain, set out this Tuesday to gather professional footballers to organize a FIFA electronic tournament for charitable purposes.
While athletes from all over the world wonder about the future of their careers in the face of the coronavirus, the professionals of the eSports They fight.
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