Coach Spirit is a genius at timeouts. His pauses change the game

Hally is the unsung hero of the team.

Understanding coaching in esports can be quite intricate. The duties and impact of coaches are blurred and vary from team to team. Valve periodically slows down the development of this profession: in 2016, coaches were prohibited from communicating during rounds, leaving only 4 timeouts of 30 seconds each. This had a significant impact on how coaches were perceived thereafter: they had a chance to become the main stars – everyone would praise not the captains, but those who stand behind them and guide them tirelessly.

Currently, coaches remain in the shadows. Even observe how teams enter tournaments: it can be incredibly flashy and atypical, but it's calculated for five people, for five players, and coaches quietly slip out and take their place. For example, at BB Dacha Belgrade, players from Fissure enter a stylized Pool Day scene through the doors. They enter simultaneously. There's no separate door for the coach – they appear in the traditional way.

The current position of coaches is neither bad nor good; they are not required to be as authoritative as in football, for example. But now, any detail that distinguishes one specialist from another quickly becomes memorable. Spirit coach Sergey "Hally" Shavayev has such a detail – he uses timeouts in a very distinct way. Not in the sense that instead of offering round ideas he conducts invigorating gymnastics or plays the opening of his favorite anime, Donka. It's about the timing of these timeouts.

In CS 2, there are three timeouts during regulation time and one in overtime. Hally acts like this: he calls a timeout as soon as something goes wrong.

As an example – the match against Faze at the major, the last map. The first timeout comes in at 0:3 – it doesn't bring the desired effect, so the next one is placed at 0:5. That is, in five rounds, Spirit loses two out of three opportunities to communicate with the coach, which is risky because there's a big part of the map ahead. But, apparently, for Hally, it's more important to fix the situation here and now and convey the idea to the players than to postpone the timeout for a more suitable moment.

As a result, the first half ended with a score of 4:8, after a disastrous start, this was a success.

The third timeout came in at 4:11 – after the first lost eco round of the second half. Result – 12:12. Of course, we don't know what Hally said during these timeouts and how his words influenced the course of the match. And if Chopper hadn't won the 1v2 clutch at 5:12, there wouldn't have been any overtime.

But the fact that Hally uses timeouts in an unconventional way is undeniable. He does this practically in every match. And not just when Spirit is losing round after round to their opponent. At the same major, Spirit led 5:0 against NAVI on Ancient – for the attack. And lost one round. Hally's immediate reaction – a timeout.

Sergey placed the next timeout at 6:3. Again, two timeouts in the first half.

Overdrive, among other skills of Hally, highlighted his work with timeouts:

"Hally was the main talent I spotted when I invited him to Espada as a coach. It was almost immediately clear that it was a bingo. Four years have passed, and in my opinion, he is currently the best coach in CS. For the players, he's both a friend you can laugh with and a strict coach whose decisions are not up for discussion. He excels in all aspects of coaching: he prepares perfectly against opponents, he understands the strength of each player better than anyone else, he times the timeouts perfectly to control the game, he knows exactly what structure to build to get results."

Hally rarely appears in the media, so he's not talked about as often: "Since childhood, I've never liked anything related to public appearances, I don't like the spotlight. If the organization asks me to participate in some formats, I don't mind, but I don't have the desire to be in the spotlight myself and follow social media. Maybe I'll come to it. I understand that it's important for my future career."

Despite his low profile, Hally is a crucial element in the Spirit system. His significant contribution is evident in the team's recent successes.