How Adamas and Logitech G’s Pro Alliance lounge champions esports performance for all

The conclusion of ESL Impact Season 6 is happening live at DreamHack Stockholm, and the top women CS2 esports teams are duking it out for the prize pool of $123,000 plus the winning title. What's so special about this tournament is that whenever players need to refresh or refocus, they can visit Logitech G PRO Series' Pro Alliance lounge where there are massage beds, snacks, beverages, and even Adamas coach George Petrakos to help them bring out their best performance. Esports.gg sat down with Petrakos for an interview about the importance of the lounge, the real impact it has on esports athletes, and more!

In his interview with esports.gg Petrakos revealed that the Pro Alliance lounge is part of a holistic strategy to help esports players bring their best to the competition. This is done by focusing on not only the cognitive side of things, but also the physical aspects. For example, the lounge has an area with massage beds, mats and stretching equipment, plus couches to relax on before and after a match.

"We want every player to be sitting in the hot seat on match day with as little distraction as possible," Petrakos said. "And typically, those distractions could be physical. So it could be a restriction in your hip, in your wrist, in your shoulder that's just taking your mind off that elite focus that you need to dominate. It could be something mental or cognitive. So it might be a focus issue. So when the crowd is in front of you, how good is your ability to focus? How good is your mental preparation prior to the to the match, and how can we take those strategies into training?"

He continued, observing that players perform how they practice. Simply grinding for hours alone or without any training in terms of mental focus isn’t a sustainable strategy in terms of improved performance at in-person tournaments. Therefore, as a coach, addressing social dynamics such as team interactions, leadership, and communication styles help foster a healthier and more effective environment overall at DreamHack Stockholm and within the esports landscape as a whole.

Petrakos then compared the growth of esports to rugby's transition into being a professional game, noting the similar challenges that young players face. Many young players, for example, rely on confirmation bias and believe that early habits would remain effective as they mature. In esports, this often translates to excessing grinding and, a lot of times, grinding in a solo environment. To him, practice is always essential, however, sports and esports athletes alike can unlock a 10% to 15% more in terms of performance levels through things like better sleep, nutrition, and recovery techniques.

"Practice is 85% to 90% of what needs to happen. You need to practice with really high quality. However, there's this 10% to 15% extra that we can get from thinking outside of that," Petrakos said. "So physical preparation can include sleep, nutrition, recovery modalities, [and] getting rid of physical, [mental, and social] restrictions for the athletes that we have here today in the women's tournament."

He also acknowledged that financial incentives can often lead to prioritizing resources for male-dominated CS2 events such as the 2024 Perfect World Shanghai Major as opposed to ESL Impact Season 6 Global Finals. Therefore, this Logitech G PRO Series and Adamas initiative wants to counterbalance this by providing free education and support to the CS2 teams at DreamHack Stockholm and beyond.

This Pro Alliance support extends beyond the Logitech G teams as well — regardless of sponsorships or affiliations.

"So the great thing about us being here is it's at no cost to the players, and we're here to help educate. We're here to stimulate thought, provoke thought around how can I get that extra 10% to 15% out of my game, keep developing as a player, and challenge everyone in the future," he explained. "And that's open to all teams here. That's regardless of who they're sponsored by, who's their kit supplier, their peripheral supplier. We just want to raise the esports game."

To Petrakos, the most fulfilling part of his work is receiving follow-up questions from players looking for personalized guidance. For this CS2 tournament in particular, he has already created individual mobility plans for four players to address specific issues and guided an entire team through a recovery protocol.

"We've had a whole team go through the recovery protocol last night, actually, just in preparation for their next match. They won their game 2-0, and then they came to me this morning and said, 'It's because we did that,'" Petrakos said before humbly attributing the team's success to them being professionals.

As for parting words, Petrakos told esports.gg that becoming exceptional at competitive gaming isn't just just lots of practice, but lots of high-quality training. There's no magic bullet — just the commitment to creating the best environment possible for players to excel at what they love to do.

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more interviews, news, and updates!