Coming out of a rough debut season in the UK League of Legends Championship (UKLC), where Viperio finished 8th with a 4W-10L record, the division have continued to practice, prep and maintain a busy schedule as the team look towards the upcoming UKLC Relegation Series.
We spoke with Viperio League of Legends Head Coach Harry Sandford and Team Manager Alan Reid, to get their insights into how they’ve adapted, re-evaluated and altered their approach to maximise the chances of success in the matches to come.
Harry Sandford expressed that preparing for such an event is a “long process“, as the UKLC Relegation Series is a team’s “last chance to prove they’re good enough to continue in the UKLC.” Harry further commented to give insight into his approach as Head Coach:
“One needs to critically evaluate the team’s performance and review what needs to be immediately changed. We also need to reassess what was working well during the split, and honestly analyse where the team was failing to find a style that will be difficult for other teams to learn and deal with, especially with new players coming into the line-up.”
Harry further went on to comment how fresh additions, both to our pool of players and backend staff, will help maximise chances of success, whilst “increasing our productivity when it comes to draft and game prep.”
When asked to comment on team morale coming our of the UKLC Summer 2021 Regular Split, Harry stated:
“Nervous yet hopeful. Towards the end of the split the team was naturally very low in spirits; its never nice to lose the remainder of the UKLC games especially when we were competing at a very high level at the start. But since making a few changes to the team we now feel like we’re in a much stronger position to smash the relegation series out of the park.”
Harry did further state that there will always be a “lingering taste of failure” coming out of a seven match loss streak, but states there is a self awareness within the team in that they’re not naive, and know that hard work is needed over the coming weeks to maximise the chances of success.
Alan Reid talked with management about how it feels to be a manager with pressure to deliver results:
“I look to solving the problem. The fear comes in when you don’t have a solution to the problem. It’s my job as a manager to find that solution and get all the pieces together before relegations.”
Alan went on to discuss that coming into relegations, he feels like he’s aware of the best approach to solving problems, and a month gives the division time to execute this approach.
You can follow both Harry and Alan on Twitter: @athirstynerd & @itscoldbolt.
