Coach Arcadia Reveals How He Manages ECHO Superteam
With the most hyped off-season out of all teams ahead of MPL-Philippines S9, ECHO made waves by securing former franchise players from three teams–namely: TNC Pro Team’s Frediemar “3Martzy” Serafico, Nexplay Evos’ Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera, and Bren Esports’ Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno.
Adding the three aforementioned players to their already competitive roster sends off the message that ECHO are confident that they can build the league’s bonafide super team.
Fans and critics alike have speculated that having all these superstars in one team would heighten the risks of ego problems and negatively affect overall communication. However, Head Coach Michael “Arcadia” Bocado may have broken the code by managing these franchise players and uniting them under one banner.
via ECHO
Unfazed by Doubters
“I was actually surprised when people were counting us out because of our performance in SIBOL when in fact, our main lineup was not complete at that time,” Coach Arcadia shares. “It was RSG who toppled us in the qualifiers, one of the top contenders this season,” he adds.
Surprised by the doubts around his newly built roster after their loss against RSG PH in the SIBOL 2022 National Team Selection, he says that their pre-season was still very smooth and they were able to do all the preparations needed for MPL-Philippines S9.
“…to be honest, our pre-season was very smooth and we were able to do all the preparations we needed for S9, physically and mentally,” he said, pertaining to their different routines and many sessions of communicating with each other.
A Bigger Responsibility for the Coach
“Teams are like puzzles,” Coach Arcadia states. “In my experience, I believe this was the hardest puzzle that I had to solve. But don’t get me wrong: these are nice and thoughtful kids,”
“I just believe that [building] a “super team” in any sport would take a lot of compromise between each member to make it work,” he added. “It’s vital to have someone who can unite them, and set the clear and right direction onto them,” he said, emphasizing that there should be a person uniting all the sheer talent inside the squad.
Coach Arcadia shares that having to coach a super team makes his coaching job harder and dismissed the notion that having talented players in each role makes the coach’s life easier.
A Calculated Success
“We had very good scrim results with top tier teams. We just had to align our mindset to translate these scrim results to MPL results, and it’s working pretty well so far,“ Coach Arcadia states.
Under a championship winning mind like Coach Arcadia, their success in the first few weeks of MPL-Philippines S9 was quite expected. Surely, the fans of the league expected some level of success as well, but clearly–only a select few expected them to completely crush almost all their matches in the league so far. ECHO did not disappoint anyone who believed in them since day 1. In fact, they might be even turning old doubters to new believers.
Substitutes in an All-star Lineup
With a 10-man roster fielded for MPL-Philippines S9, ECHO sadly has to prioritize their newly acquired talent and relegate their old players to the substitute role for now. “All of them are undoubtedly talented, but apparently, only 5 of them can play. Regardless, we make sure that all of them are ready to play anytime, adhering to the same routines, and that they are not lacking in practice.”
Coach Arcadia assures that the substitutes can still play whenever they’re needed and ensures that even the substitutes undergo the same level of intensity as the starters during practice.
Who is Coach Arcadia’s Team to Beat?
ECHO had already established in the first two weeks of MPL-Philippines S9 that they are the team to beat this season: knocking down all international champions, and showing everybody how skillful the team is in finishing games dominantly.
Asked about ECHO’s team to beat, Coach Arcadia responded with “No specific team. I consider all of the teams this season capable of winning the trophy,” not counting out anyone despite the dominating results that they’ve shown through their matches.
“Every team and player who’s in the league is here for a reason. We can’t sleep on them because you just never know what’s gonna happen.” he adds.
With complete trust in his ECHO squad and high respect to other MPL-PH teams, Coach Arcadia looks to lead the super team into a dominant regular season for MPL-Philippines S9.
ECHO’s next match this Saturday (March 5) will be against the team that knocked them out of the SIBOL 2022 National Team Selection, RSG PH. The match will surely be a big series of games, considering both squads were left undefeated after Week 2 ended.
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