Interview with Performance Coach Chris Greulich
Yoann: Hey, hello everyone! Today I’m with Chris Greulich, performance coach! How would you introduce yourself?
Chris: Hi, I’m Chris, aka MrG. I am a coach for all reasons and seasons, and I coach for life, leadership, and high performance!
Yoann: That’s nice! When and how did you get into coaching?
Chris: You can tell by the color of my hair how long I’ve been around! I was always in education and sports. I was a high-level basketball player too, playing six days a week. My best role models were often coaches, and they worked my ass off for me to win championships and achieve big things.
Then, with my career work as a teacher, and sports coach, I eventually also became a leader, CEO, boss… I have worked with so many people, that coaching just seemed a natural part of it. I would ask people what they want to achieve and I would see how I could help them. Coaching is natural to me.
Yoann: That’s amazing! What's your role as a performance Coach? How can you help the talents you are working with?
Chris: In esports, the topic is performance, and usually people only have a basic idea of what it actually means and what it takes. The first thing I do is educate players and coaches about performance. The key is, educate to elevate. Then I evaluate where they are, we plan for where they want to go, I identify the degree of progress along the way, and we adjust it to keep it going. The last thing I do is look to eliminate anything that limits them.
“Educate, Evaluate, Empower and Elevate”
Yoann: Which teams did you work with so far on Valorant?
Chris: I’m still a noob in Valorant. I came in with an org called Wave when Valorant came out, it gave me a great introduction to the scene. Met and worked with some great people I am still in touch with. Then, I started to work with Acend, who eventually went to Berlin for the Ascension tournament; and also a bit with the Acend Rising Team who finished 2023 with a second place in the EMEA GC league. I loved the experience and I will work with the Acend Valorant team again for this season.
Thanks to Clutch Agency, I also work with individual players and coaches, such as Ito BigTime, Bambino, Felix, and Moshie, who is building her young career in the GC scene. And because I’m a personal coach, I got to work with Benjyfishy during his switch from Fortnite to Valorant and that has been a lot of fun.
Every player is a person first, and life is bigger than the game. I like to see their professional lives in the context of their whole lives and help them with things that are outside of esports but obviously still affect their performance.
Yoann: Great! How important is it to have a performance coach in an esports team?
Chris: It depends on the level of the org, the level of the competition, and the level of their commitment and goals. I told myself that I want to work at the top level, with the people that want to be great at what they do.
If you can’t do what a performance coach does, and you want to be in the top 5 of the world, you definitely need a performance coach!
Yoann: That’s interesting! How important is having a great team environment? How do you build chemistry in a team?
Chris: I always look at how it starts, and it starts with how managers choose great coaches, and how coaches choose great players. I like to look at who the coach is because I have a saying: great players win games, but great coaches use great players to win championships.
I look at the team like a puzzle, I take a lot of time for the individuals first. I ask the weirdest questions. I want to know about your life, your education, what the best and hardest things in your life were, etc. I listen to words, comms, and I watch body language and interactions. I need to understand you as a piece of the puzzle. Then I can see how the chemistry and combination of skills and qualities can work. You can have players who are very rational, or emotional, and you have to adjust your recipe for chemistry accordingly. It takes a bit of experimenting and testing to build chemistry. Most importantly you help players and coaches to understand themselves, also within a team.
The environment is super important, but you can adjust it to have teams experience different conditions and expectations. Everything to help them grow.
Yoann: That’s amazing! Do you travel with your players when they are competing in tournaments?
Chris: Yes! Organizations often don’t understand that performance coaching is also a strategy that can be adapted and used to face different challenges. Once I have rapport with a player and sync with their system, I can use my physical presence to provide additional motivation, support, inspiration, and empowerment. When I can, I’m on location!
Last year, with Acend, I was on two of their boot camps, and the Ascension tournament. If I’m a coach in a team, I need to be there.
Yoann: Let’s now move on to the Quick Questions part, I’ll ask you 10 quick questions, and you'll have to answer as fast as possible! Ready?
Chris: Yeah! I don’t play the game, but I’m spending a lot of time watching and experiencing how my players play! Let’s give it a go!
Yoann: Phantom or Vandal?
Chris: It would be the Vandal, watching the players and relating to its use.
Yoann: What's your favorite map?
Chris: I saw that some people struggle with Icebox, so I would go with Icebox!
Yoann: What's your favorite agent?
Chris: I like to create opportunities, and make things possible, so I would choose an agent like Sova.
Yoann: Nice! What's your favorite skin collection?
Chris: I can’t answer that one, I’m not focusing on that at all!
Yoann: Of course! Who's your favorite team to watch or work with?
Chris: Generally I like underdogs and teams that have to fight and dig deep to unleash their full potential. Not that this applies, but in EMEA T1 I really like this year’s Liquid team! I also got to meet some of their players as Apeks, like Enzo. I really like him as a person and think he’s a great player with a strong mindset and big ambitions. For Tier 2, I’m already with the team I like, which is Acend!
Yoann: Great! Who are your favorite players of all time, the ones you find most interesting?
Chris: I want players and coaches to prove themselves, I love working with Benjyfishy for example; he is on a journey, has a great attitude and amazing goals, and he is willing to learn. The same with the Acend team who have a lot they want to prove this year. If you tell me that you’re aiming for Tier 1, and even the top of that, I’m here and ready to help! Sometimes with orgs but also as a private performance coach.
Yoann: Can you name the eight teams that won an international event?
Chris: Acend, Fnatic, Loud, Evil Geniuses…
Yoann: Four is already pretty good! How often do you play Valorant?
Chris: I don’t play the game, but as a performance coach, I dive into the world of the people who have to perform. In my first year, some of my players and coaches would laugh, because even if I don’t play the game, I still use the Valorant language. I either listen to the comms, or the casters analyzing the gameplay live, so I pick up a lot of information.
Yoann: That’s interesting! What kind of music do you listen to while working, or to help players get in the zone?
Chris: The players have their own music and getting into the zone as an individual is different to that of a team. Whatever we use it has to have a reason, even if it is just funny, and it depends on whether you’re doing mental, emotional, or physical work.
Personally, when I work I often go with a deep house. If I’m training at the gym, I go with heavy rock, Metallica, AC-DC, hip hop … something with good bass and beat.
Yoann: Can you quote a voice line from your favorite agent or your favorite call-out in the game?
Chris: You caught me on this one. Nothing that comes to mind fast.
Yoann: Let’s go back to the standard questions. What are your hobbies or passions aside from coaching?
Chris: Coaching is so much a part of my life, so I work a lot but love it. I also like physical activities. Summer - mountain biking. Winter - snowboarding. I’m also building my own program, which takes a lot of time and that’s a passion too!
Yoann: That’s awesome! How do you feel about the new generation of talents compared to the older one you’ve been working with before?
Chris: The word generation does matter, because each generation deals with a different world. Talent is awesome but doesn’t make success alone; it’s a nice thing to have in your pocket. I met a couple of prodigy players, but I wouldn’t work with them, because I don’t think they bring the personal qualities that matter for success. But if somebody comes with talent, they are curious and interested, keen to learn, and willing to put in the work, then absolutely. Bottom line, talent is not everything, it’s just one of the many things!
Yoann: That’s super interesting! Which team would you like to work with in the future?
Chris: First of all, I’m happy to work with Acend right now, and have a number of private esports clients. I would naturally be interested in working with a few of EMEA T1 teams - but let’s keep the options open. Fundamental factors for choice include the highest level of professionalism in the org and amongst staff.
Yoann: What advice would you give someone willing to become a mentor coach?
Chris: You have to be super curious about how people function. Culture, gender, personality, experience, and even their nature make a difference.
You also have to learn like crazy! I read a lot of books, listen to a lot of podcasts… If you want to work with people, you need to constantly upgrade as fast as everybody upgrades.
Finally, you learn best by doing - so go out there and coach.
Yoann: What are your short and long-term ambitions as a coach?
Chris: Coaching is my life, I want to impact as many people as I possibly can. I am building a program to help as many young people as possible. It involves everything from performance to leadership, to life. I would like to work with some of the best performers as individuals or teams, especially in (e)sports, and with those who have these super huge goals and the potential to achieve them. In esports I want to be in Champions, coaching a team in the finals!
Yoann: For sure! Is there anything else you would like to say?
Chris: Yes! I wish you all the success you can possibly achieve with all the things you want to be doing!
Yoann: That’s awesome, thank you so much for your time, and I wish you the best in the future!
Chris: Thank you!
Chris Greulich’s socials:
Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/mrg_coaching
Instagram: mrg.coaching.official
Website: https://chrisgreulich.com/
Mail: cg@chrisgreulich.com
