{"id":12700,"date":"2025-07-23T11:33:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T11:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/?p=12700"},"modified":"2025-07-24T12:13:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T12:13:55","slug":"exclusive-interview-with-dr-ben-sharpe-part2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/exclusive-interview-with-dr-ben-sharpe-part2","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Interview with Dr. Ben Sharpe – part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In this second part of our conversation<\/a>, Dr. Sharpe explores how esports teams can gain competitive advantages through proper training periodization and psychological safety. He discusses the transferable skills that make retired esports players highly employable, addresses sustainability challenges including short career spans, and examines the role of AI coaching tools in player development.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In traditional sports, we saw teams or franchises that implemented periodisation in their sports gain a major competitive advantage, sometimes across eras. Is the same advantage available to the esports teams that can work this out first and implement it best?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely. What I’d like to see in the field is treating players or teams within esports the same way they do in Formula One in terms of preparing the car and preparing their driver to be effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it’s physiologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, the full shebang of scientific support, as well as providing tools to simulate the real context and so forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formula One is fantastic at truly preparing an individual to perform optimally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formula One drivers and even Premier League footballers such as Wayne Rooney have talked about how important visualisation is to their peak performance, whether it\u2019s visualising every corner on a track or visualising every way to score a goal, so the action becomes instinctive. To what extent are esports players employing similar techniques?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I guess the caveat here is mindfulness and visualisation isn’t directly my field. I have recently taken part in a systematic review looking into techniques like mindfulness. The main kind of takeaway, and this isn’t solely for the two techniques that you’ve mentioned, it’s for all training interventions. They just need to be adapted specifically for an esport context rather than using a generic approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think a lot of the problems esports and other sports face is that you see an interesting research paper or an example of a practitioner implementing something beneficial for the athletes and then people poach it and use it for their completely different context, completely different team, completely different set of personality styles and traits, and in the context of esports, a completely different environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There needs to be some development of gaming mindfulness as opposed to some generic sort of protocol that involves solely focused on attention to game sensory input. So sound cues, visual patterns, novel compared to the typical mindfulness visualisation as well. If it’s deemed appropriate for esports, that’s again another caveat here, because the assumption is because these techniques work so well in traditional sports that they would work in esports. Sometimes there’s a bit of a fallacy and it doesn’t always hold true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if it’s deemed through a kind of rigorous science that it’s beneficial for a certain context, then the same again, it needs to be highly specific in how it\u2019s incorporated, not just for making successful plays, but also in recovering from mistakes, adaptation to unexpected situations and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How common is it for esports players to memorise a map like a Formula One driver does a track, or think about different options they expect in specific situations ahead of time?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You do see that in games like Counter-Strike<\/a>, for example. If you just Google any particular map that they play on within that game, every single specific location of that map has its own name, whatever it might be. It might be Truck, High Rise, it might be Banana. They’ve all got different names depending on your geographical region or language. But when you’re sitting down with players and you’re talking about these specific regions, it allows them to open up their imagination. Whether someone wants to close their eyes and visualise or look at a map and go by the different call signs then yes, absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How important is psychological safety and trust within esports in terms of performance, looking after talent, and dealing with pressure?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Psychological safety needs to be integrated everywhere, not just in esports. If we just pull work from my own lab, which again is usually attentional performance under stress, it’s a consistent finding. It’s not even just my own research, the same is reported from researchers such as Dr. Dylan Poulus, Dr. Oliver Leis, Dr. Michael Trotter, Dr. Laura Swettenham, Ismael Pedraza Ramirez, and so on, to name a few from different parts of the word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems to be a consistent finding that the kind of fear of judgment significantly impairs this cognitive flexibility or decision-making and leads to an inability to perform. In esports where those kinds of split second calls and adaptations are really crucial it needs to be the case that team members feel safe to actually make and take these calculated risks, admit mistakes or have the ability to almost talk over the in-game leader and correct them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That enables rapid information sharing as opposed to being tentative and second guessing yourself, which is only going to hamper performance. That’s essential for things like team coordination, especially in the complex strategic games like team-based MMOs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without psychological safety you could imagine players playing conservatively, reducing the innovative thinking, not being their true self and perhaps even masking. If you have high psychological safety, I would assume that you’d show better stress recovery to these extremely high demands rather than having to feel like you\u2019re working on this individually, you can’t rely on your team. It’s super interesting and really important and often overlooked like it is in organisations and other sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems to be a consistent finding that especially across professional teams, mental ill health is on the rise with the kind of dramatic stresses that these individuals are facing. They report things like not feeling safe or don’t feel like they have support or that maybe, even with the support structures that are in place, they don’t feel like they have the ability to go forward and communicate what they’re struggling with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, it could be a reflection on their age. I’m certainly not saying esports causes any negative impact of emotion but the specific context that is sometimes generated within people’s own minds can sometimes make them feel unsafe or not trust the system. I hope to see lots of research and discussions on this, especially if esports does make its push to get into the Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is psychological safety key for enhancing teamwork, cohesion and communication or are there other factors at play?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I think fundamentally it just needs to be the case that any system or practice is pushed to build team cohesion or communication, which as a side note is a hugely lacking field of research in esports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It just needs to ensure that information is prioritised, delivered in a way that doesn’t overwhelm those cognitive resources we were talking about earlier, especially during really intense moments, and there needs to be some kind of consistent feedback loop, not just a case of receiving information before and during a game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular team briefs, focusing on things like communication breakdowns and not just pointing fingers on strategic errors, but helping individuals understand that communication is important, especially under pressure. Repeated exposure to high pressure can lead to negative outcomes so practice communication under different situations rather than assuming it’s going to develop naturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may be the case that you don’t like the person sitting next to you because you have different personality styles but that doesn’t mean you don’t like playing with them, you don’t like working with them, the same way you do in a job setting. It may be the case you don’t like the person you’re sitting next to in an office but as a colleague they’re great to help build that organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross training, having players adopt or take on different play stales or different roles, can be great for building empathy and understanding the unique stresses that other players or other roles may be dealing with. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a support in the bottom lane in League Of Legends<\/a>. What do they have to go through? What communication styles do they have to put up with? How do players treat as a result of their particular role?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So yeah there\u2019s lots to consider and like I mentioned, in terms of being a field of research, it’s really poor but I’m hopeful, like I am with all the fields of esports, there’s going to be some developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An esports player that does master these communication needs and develop that empathy is going to be extremely employable outside of esports as a manager or leader, aren\u2019t they?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely. This also ties into how employable esports competitive players can be in general once they\u2019ve retired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you just focus on the cognitive skills, for example, they’re dealing with vast amounts of information, sometimes on different screens, different hardware, learning new skills on the fly, communicating effectively and rapidly and understanding the importance of cohesion and psychological safety. That can translate beautifully into business healthcare technologies and you see examples of this all the time, especially in military context or heavy machine operation or surveillance, where they need individuals that have rapid decision-making and information skills. They need to be able to kind of think strategically and adapt their abilities in complex scenarios, and have the ability to manage the stress of themselves and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve recently published a paper called Commentary on the Transferability of Esports to Military and Emergency Responder Roles in The Journal of Electronic Gaming Esports, which talks about the superior cognitive abilities that esports athletes have and how that can directly translate into military and emergency responder roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example could be a lifeguard detecting someone drowning in the water or someone in a military surveillance role noticing an abnormality that isn’t typically there, or maybe a military sniper seeing something in the distance. If it doesn’t seem quite right, they need to have the ability to make a rapid decision whether to engage or not. I’m hopeful that the more esports becomes established, the more focus there is on esports competitors having a form of active CV where all the skills they have developed can be showcased so that they don’t have to have a sudden abrupt ending to their career or there’s some more traditional career ready for them once they retire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some individuals start playing professionally when they’re 14 or 15 and finish when they’re 18 or 19 and then they need to return to what I guess you could call it the real world. Then again the lifespan of an esport competitor seems to vary quite dramatically, finishing at 17 or finishing at 30 plus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing big names in the competitive space like TenZ retire to become a content creator and streamer, how much of that short lifespan for esports athletes is a threat to esports, and does more need to be done to keep the top players competing?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I think we’ll see more and more of the players from top tier competitive performance move into content creation because of the reduced pressure, the better financial outcomes perhaps and yeah, I think players need to intuitively recognise the kind of the stresses they’re under as a competitor and think long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the industry needs to understand that there are substantial cognitive demands for these players. There needs to be evidence-based training schedules that prevent overload, better provide mental health support, have some kind of standardised mental health support, and create a more sustainable competitive environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps tournaments could include longer break periods, modify scheduling to benefit human attention bands, and teams need to have qualified and accredited psychology support as opposed to wellbeing coaches or people who are there with maybe some training into psychology but are mainly to provide physiological interventions. Clear pathways for transitioning, rather than kind of saying thank you for your services, goodbye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give them some kind of support strategy, the same way universities do with having an alumni. How can we support you after the fact? Do you have some career support? Maybe you’re going to fall into being a coach, an analyst, or a content creator rather than retiring, having to deal with the unsustainable cognitive demands you’ve been dealing with, and then maybe you have some issues with mental ill health that you no longer have support for because you’re no longer part of the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at how the big names in boxing or MMA are often retiring from their sports only to drag out a bigger payday to force their return, do you think we\u2019ll see a similar trend in esports as the ranks of famous retired players grows over time?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely, yes. I can see similar things taking place as you would in competitive powerlifting or bodybuilding or even in chess where grandmasters that have since retired are returning to see if they can take on the young bucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What impact can AI training tools or even coaches have on the intuition of players?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, I’m a big fan of AI. I think it’s going to be a net benefit to society. So I’m not pessimistic at all. I think trying to be realistic from where we are currently in esports, if we are going to adopt esports as AI coaching interventions, they need to be empirically validated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that to be ethically sound and morally acceptable, especially when esports competitors are under the ages of 18, they need to augment human coaching rather than replacing it. As I find with students, with some colleagues, there is a trend to over rely on AI. You might call it something like cognitive outsourcing where you become dependent on external analysis rather than developing your own intuitive understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there’s a risk in the esports context of creating mechanically skilled but strategically rigid players who struggle in really novel scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it’s within the kind of specific parameters of AI training or AI coaching, they would thrive. If you rely too heavily on AI guidance, you won’t develop the cognitive flexibility needed. You won’t be able to have those creative problem solving abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great comparison to other sports is chess. There’s been varying different AI tools that you can play against with varying different forms of AI. It’s meant that certain chess openings have had to adapt as a result and there are new ways to perform. But if you observe any Grandmaster playing or talking about the use of AI, it\u2019s exactly that, as a training tool, a training tool amongst the flurry of different things that they adopt personally. It seems to be that currently nothing beats just hours and hours of extended practice. AI needs to be a tool and not the tool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this second part of our conversation, Dr. Sharpe explores how esports teams can gain competitive advantages through proper training periodization and psychological safety. He discusses the transferable skills that make retired esports players highly employable, addresses sustainability challenges including short career spans, and examines the role of AI coaching tools in player development. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12700"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12731,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700\/revisions\/12731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}