The London Spitfire have hired a new head coach, Kwangbok “Coach815” Kim. 815 has been a longstanding figure in the esports community. He started his career back in 2007 with Starcraft, where he won various tournaments with his team Startale. 815 then moved onto Heroes of the Storm in 2014. His teams would compete in 23 different tournaments over a three year period. He led them to 12 first place finishes, seven second place finishes, and a famous span of 41 games unbeaten.
815 brings a history of competence and victory in the esports realm, especially in the Blizzard esports universe. 815 joined the competitive Overwatch community with MVP Space in the OGN APEX for season 4, and led his team to Contenders, and led them to a round of 8 finish in the second season.
Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles, commentator and analyst for the Overwatch League, touches on the importance of bringing in an experienced coach, as they can bring organization, structure, and leadership to a team, especially an all-Korean roster. The goal is to get the team to entirely buy into the strategy and ideas of the head coach, and 815 has shown that he can do that. He led MVP Space to beat Lunatic Hai (who became the Seoul Dynasty) in the APEX season 4.
The question now is: what will 815 change with the roster? The Spitfire currently have seven players on their roster. October 8 is the opening of the free agent window for all teams. By December 1, all teams must have at least eight players signed to their roster. The current team and staff seem to be excited to work with 815. Cheol-yong “Agape” Hong, one of the current coaches of the Spitfire, said about 815, “Compared to (Coach815), I am just a noob coach. I am excited to learn a lot from him and whole heart welcome him to our team!!”
Courtesy of London Spitfire
The London Spitfire look to start the second season of the Overwatch League strong, coming off of a victory in the Season 1 playoffs. The Overwatch League returns in 2019 for their second season.
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Featured Image Courtesy of the London Spitfire
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