Neil Murphy is one of the most experienced esports coaches from Ireland – now he’s part of a unique academy program formed by luxury fashion brand Gucci and esports platform FaceIt.
The new Gucci Gaming Academy aims to help up and coming talent get picked up by pro teams. It’s started with four CSGO players and Neil says the goal is to hopefully pick up 10 to 12 players by the end of the year. Esports News UK was invited to a special press briefing where we heard from ambassadors including GeT_RiGhT, Missharvey and James Bardolph – and we had the chance to ask Neil some questions to find out more.
How the Gucci Gaming Academy works
The Gucci Gaming Academy is designed to create the next pro players, selected from the FaceIt Pro League (FPL), and is starting with four CSGO players with plans to add more each quarter. The idea is to get upcoming players onto pro teams, with no cost to the players.
It’s the first program created by a luxury fashion brand designed to ’empower young esports talent, while creating a healthier environment for them to develop, compete and become pro’. Gucci Gaming Academy will provide support and enhance soft skills, and help players handle the pressure of in-game performance and online scrutiny.
The program will provide young esports players with access to individual and group psychological support. and will see Gucci and FaceIt work with the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health support service provider Mindwork, hardware brand Logitech G, Prodigy Agency founder Jerome Coupez and lawyer Billy Jenks, who will help players develop their personal brand and contract literacy.
“We are dedicated to supporting the up-and-coming generations of players to help manage the challenges they may face as a result of participating in esports. Understanding the issues that are relevant to them and learning about these from the people they affect are at the core of this collaboration.”
Nicolas Oudinot, Gucci
Players in the academy will receive:
- Access through FaceIt to professional coaches who will provide training for improving in-game performance and coaching
- Sessions facilitated by psychologists who specialise in esports. Topics include “Performance under stress”, “How to deal with the spotlight”, “Teamwork” and more
- Digital training plans designed specifically for each player, supplied via the Gucci Education platform, and community-driven experiences coordinated through the Gucci Changemakers Volunteering programme
- Top-range hardware, gaming PCs and monitors and a personalised selection of peripherals from Logitech G
- Access to the Gucci and FaceIt esports network for the players’ entire career
Representing the values of the Gucci Gaming Academy are the ambassadors, British commentator James Bardolph, Swedish pro CSGO legend Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund, and Canadian trailblazer for women in esports, Stephanie ‘missharvey’ Harvey. The ambassadors will provide one-on-one mentorship sessions with each player monthly.
Gucci published an announcement video to celebrate, featuring James Bardolph and plenty of CS personalities, including an appearance from UK caster Veracity, who recently worked at the Insomnia 68 CSGO finals.
It’s not the first time Gucci has been involved in gaming.
The luxury fashion brand has struck partnerships with Fnatic and 100 Thieves for merch, as well as having activities in The Sims 4 and also Pokemon Go with The North Face.
FPL has been known for its role in CSGO since launching in 2015, but has since moved into Rainbow Six Siege, with more leagues planned.
Neil Murphy: ‘Our goal is to pick up as many people as possible, hopefully between 10 to 12 players by the end of the year.’
Esports News UK asked Gucci Gaming Academy coach Neil ‘NeiL_M’ Murphy, who joined FaceIt earlier this year, and will be working alongside another coach, Colin ‘Koi’ Thor from the US, about the initiative.
Please tell us about the initiative getting off the ground.
“After conducting interviews, we picked up four players to help them on their path to pro. We’re trying to do this for all corners of the world, and we want to help players in-game and out of game, to help these players be picked up by pro teams – for free of course.
“Also, every quarter, we’ll be scouting new players to come in for the existing players – who will hopefully be picked up by top teams. Thank you to Gucci for helping the next generation of players have all-round amazing support and giving these young guys this opportunity.”
As an experienced person in CS, you’ve seen the ecosystem go through several changes over the years. What it’s been like going from the early days in your career working with a variety of teams to joining a TO in Faceit, and now working with Gucci?
“I’ve coached many international teams over the years. My dad owns an internet cafe so he was travelling round to different cities, so I was very lucky my dad was very supportive of me when I started out, to be honest with you.
“Then I moved to London, went into healthcare, quit for two years and watched CS. Then I went into coaching, went into international teams. It’s nice to be able to help players and the next generation of players.
“From travelling the world and going to different tournaments with different teams, and helping players… I didn’t have any help to help me as a coach. But then in 2019 I had a mental coach that was helping me and I travelled with him. He helped me realise all the aspects and how I can be the best person in myself on international teams.
“Coming into the Gucci Gaming Academy, I want to help the next generation of gamers and help them go into pro teams as soon as possible.”
Neil Murphy
“I’m helping them with individual programme training. From my background in healthcare and wanting to help people, this is a natural role for me to come in.
“It’s amazing I’ve been able to help with the support I have, the ambassadors, mental coaching, brand awareness… it’s an amazing opportunity for me to help these players become top pros.
How will this academy change in the future and allow other players to join?
“Our goal is to pick up as many people as possible, hopefully between 10 to 12 players by the end of the year. I have my own database of players that I’m constantly scouting from solo-based matchmaking and Faceit, FPL Circuit and Challenger to find as many next generation players as possible to get into top teams.
“So, when [our] players join a pro team, then new players will come in to take their spot, consistently. We’re aiming for as many people as possible to be picked up so we can help them become the best possible players.”
Who are the current players on the Gucci Gaming Academy?
The first wave of players who have been selected by Gucci and FaceIt are:
- Latvian Mārtiņš ‘shadiyy’ Gūtmani (19, far left)
- Polish Lukasz ‘mwlky’ Pachucki (18, centre-left)
- Lithuanian Rokas ‘EspiranTo’ Milasauskas (20, centre-right)
- Polish Brajan ‘DGL’ Lemecha (24, far right)
Beginning with these four rising stars, Gucci says the goal is to continue growing the program, ‘with candidate selection based on in-game performance, as well as interviews to assess applicants’ personal values, including their aptitude for teamwork and approach to conflict resolution’.
Neil Murphy said of each player:
“Shadiyy is an unknown Latvian person who I found through playing solo matchmaking. I was really impressed by his stats so decided to have a chat with him. He has a great work ethic and is a very good individual player. At only 19 years old, he looks up to players like broky and Yekindar in the pro scene, and he thinks he has what it takes to become the next Lithuanian pro in the Balkan scene.
“So I’ll help him become a complete player, and I’ll have Chris and Stephanie helping me, who have obviously travelled the world and took part in many different tournaments, to help handle pressure and the experience at professional LANs. My goal is to get him into a top team as soon as possible, because I think he has what it takes to be the next-generation players, which is the goal in this scouting process and with the Gucci Gaming Academy.
“Mwlky is our young gun from Poland who recently played in the ESL Pro League. He’s very well-respected in Poland and when I reached out to him to have a chat, he has a great work ethic, he plays 10-12 hours a day. He’s a really good individual and my aim is to make him a complete package in the server and outside, with mental health coaching and ambassadors to help us, we believe that Mwlky can be playing in the top stages in tournaments. His dream is to play in the top stages in tournaments, and his dream is to play in front of a crowd in his home country in Poland, and I believe that. He’s a very good sniper rifle player.”
“We’ve picked EspiranTo up to spotlight him and help him become one of the best players in the world. And I truly believe we can help him do that.”
Neil Murphy
“Next up we have EspiranTo, who I previously worked with in 2018. We actually scouted him from the Faceit program, we made a team together of five unknown players but unfortunately didn’t have very good financial or mental support. He has broken records, he was an MVP twice in tournaments in 2018 and broke out to be a top star.
“During the pandemic, unfortunately his mental stability went down and now this year he’s come back, played in the FPL Circuit and we’ve picked him up to spotlight him and help him become one of the best players in the world. And I truly believe we can help him do that.
“DGL has the most games in the FPL Circuit, with nearly 5,000 games, and he recently qualified into the FPL, the cream of the crop to play with pro players. He comes from a football background, he moved to England and was a pro player for one year but did his knee in unfortunately, so decided he wanted to be an esports player.
“I think he has the complete package, personally, he’s had a lot of experience in individual and mental training and I’m confident he can be the next-generation in Poland and be picked up by a professional team.”
Gucci Gaming Academy ambassadors: ‘It’s about nurturing people and helping them to make the next steps’
Commentator James Bardolph said: “It’s important, with the experience we all bring with mentorship, to give young players an idea of what they’re capable of outside and inside the server. Being self-aware of their profile and what’s available to them, not answering an interview question with two words, and so on.
“It’s about understanding what their purpose and their role is and how they represent the team they’re with, how they represent themselves and want to be perceived… to understand what it’s like being watched by millions or tens of thousands of people. There’s a lot of things in that respect that we’re hoping to help these players with.”
Former pro player Missharvey added: “I’d like to say I was in a ‘boy’s club’ when I started in esports 19 years ago. The community didn’t have a safe space where you could belong, you didn’t have other women – or men – supporting women. Things have changed quite a lot, but it was important to me to kind of show that you can do it, and to be a good role model for other women. To try and change the space and make a difference.
“The point is, for me, to always try and make a difference, push the envelope and make the path a little bit easier for the next generation. We want to make sure it’s not as hard with support in the amateur scene.”
Missharvey
Missharvey also spoke about the importance of being sustainable and happy as a player, appreciating the journey more than the outcome and learning how to lose.
Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, retired Swedish CSGO pro, commented: “For me it’s always been interesting to see who the next star is. It’s a very big goal of mine to be helping out the talent early, because I didn’t know anything when I started. I needed to learn myself, I got to meet people and learn from each other for the next stage.
“[If I were a younger player] I’d love this opportunity to talk to someone like myself, or James, Stephanie or Neil, to hear their stories or look at how they can push themselves forward to maybe becoming one of the best players in the world, or on a high-tier organisation.
“I want to help people not to make the mistakes I did. It’s about nurturing people and helping them to make the next steps.”
More quotes from Gucci, FaceIt and the World Health Organization
“We welcome efforts by Gucci and FaceIt to encourage their large online communities to take the necessary steps for better health and well-being,” said Andy Pattison, team lead of digital channels at the World Health Organization.
“We need to continue to reach people with lifesaving health messages where they are, in the palms of their hands.”
Nicolas Oudinot, EVP of new business and Gucci Vault CEO, said: “Gucci is at the forefront of the luxury industry’s foray into the world of gaming and as part of our mission to build meaningful relationships with communities in a genuinely authentic way, we are dedicated to supporting the up-and-coming generations of players to help manage the challenges they may face as a result of participating in esports.
“Understanding the issues that are relevant to them and learning about these from the people they affect are at the core of this collaboration.”
“We are proud to announce the launch of the Gucci Gaming Academy. Together, we identified a need to create a new initiative that would aid the development of new talent. The Academy will offer a clear path to pro structure connecting the dots between the FaceIt Pro League, education and wellbeing,” commented co-founder and CBO of FaceIt, Michele Attisani.
“This is an incredible initiative because it’s a first. It’s the first time a luxury brand is participating in a program that is focused on grassroots and talent development, with a focus on empowering young upcoming players.
“New players will be added to the program every quarter, and there will be lots of content produced on how people can improve their gameplay, tips and tricks and more.”
There’s more info at pro.faceit.com/gucci-gaming-academy
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
