Sentinels coach kaplan was thrust into a leading role on the VCT team mid-way through the year. He shed light on his struggles and the ways he’s learned to adapt and overcome in an interview with Dexerto.
The first thing Adam “kaplan” Kaplan said to the Sentinels squad after their 2-0 loss to Leviatán was to stay strong, despite their performance.
“It’s heartbreaking that the work and growth we put in as a team didn’t show up today,” the Sentinels head coach told Dexerto. “But nothing can take away that we did put in that work, and we did grow, and that’s something to be proud of.”
This has been, by kaplan’s admission, “a wild year”. He began the season as a strategic coach before taking over as head coach just three weeks into VCT Americas following Donald ‘SyykoNT’ Muir’s departure.
kaplan would appear on Sentinels’ Twitter sporadically, giving updates on the squad and the many changes it went through. Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo took time away from competition due to a finger injury and illness. Jimmy ‘Marved’ Nguyen was slotted into the starting lineup and eventually handed the team’s reins as Rory ‘dephh’ Jackson was let go two weeks before the end of the regular season.
All clout, no brakes pic.twitter.com/TvHAWJfdGq
— Sentinels (@Sentinels) May 9, 2023
Meanwhile, substitute player Hunter ‘SicK’ Mims was dealing with a public mental health crisis that saw him arrested twice for criminal trespassing and suspended by the organization.
When asked what he learned as a coach through all of the in-season chaos, kaplan took a long pause. He finally said that it took him some time to find his voice in the squad and that he had to change his approach and be like a chameleon to “balance out the team as needed.”
“This year I have really studious, diligent, hard working, talented players,” he said. “But it took a lot of energy to get us all feeling like a team. Having that glue, having that chemistry, making jokes, being willing to confront each other is something that we worked hard on, trying to get people to call each other out, share their feelings, and realize nobody bites.”
Sentinels head coach details the team’s VCT triumphs and troubles
He further explained that it was almost too easy to try new things with players who are extremely confident in playing the game in multiple ways, so it was hard to nail down a game plan that worked for the roster.
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Sentinels role swapped a few different times during the season while figuring out what worked. Gustavo ‘Sacy’ Rossi at one point played Controller, which did not last long. Bryan ‘pANcada’ Luna took up the Sentinel role after a year of player smokes for LOUD. TenZ also transitioned into a more supportive role for the team, playing KAY/0 or a secondary Duelist behind Zachary ‘zekken’ Patrone toward the end of the season.
“Getting the conversations going where people start to say what they’re thinking about the game, and getting to know what kind of players in the server we’re working with, is something that took a long time,” kaplan said.
The head coach said the team had a hard time finding chemistry or a game plan that worked for them until the end of the VCT Americas split.
The two months between the end of the season and the start of the VCT Americas LCQ tournament were the quietest the team had experienced since the start of the 2023 season.
“It’s the only two months we’ve had to seriously just go in with a plan and know what we’re working on and just have the time to grow as a team,” he said.
Ultimately, the time in practice and review sessions didn’t pay off as expected as the team went 1-2 in the tournament and failed to qualify for Valorant Champions.
Still, kaplan is looking to build on what the team achieved and hopefully run it back next season with an understanding of what works for this group of players.
“It was a bumpy year, but I learned a lot,” he said. “I feel like I have a lot to prove. I’m really hungry to come back stronger and dominate next year. I’m confident my players feel the exact same way. Down but not out. We’ll be back.”
