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Swedish League of Legends support player Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson has spoken about his desire to coach after his playing career is over.
The former Fnatic, Karmine Corp and G2 player has been playing with T1’s academy team in the LCK Challengers League (CL) in 2024, where they finished ninth in spring and fourth in the summer season. They also finished fourth in the Asia Star Challengers Invitational 2024.
Rekkles was speaking in this stream to German streamer Tolkin (who once played on UK orgs Choke Gaming and Excel Esports many years ago).
Rekkles on coaching in the future
“I definitely want to coach when I’m finished [playing], I see myself being able to bring a lot of good stuff to a team,” Rekkles said.
“I don’t think my personality fits a head coach role though, so I think if I go into coaching I’d like to do some kind of background role, or perhaps just a bot lane coach, or assistant coach, being more focused on the game.
“I don’t think I am the kind of person to lead a group of people, I don’t have that personality or aura in a room, which is fine, not everyone has that. So I’d love to do coaching at some point but definitely not head coach. I want to play as long as I can, until I can’t play anymore.”
‘I definitely want to coach when I’m finished [playing], I see myself being able to bring a lot of good stuff to a team. I don’t think my personality fits a head coach role though.’
Rekkles, T1
‘Smash is maybe the best AD I’ve seen for a long time’ – Rekkles on T1 teammate
When asked if we’ll see Rekkles and his ADC partner Smash in the bot lane together again, Rekkles said: “I hope so. When we finished our last game, I told Smash he put the bar very high for AD Carries in the future for me, because as a new support, no matter who I play with in the future, I’ll always be thinking about Smash’s level and how good he actually was.
“In some way I hope we can continue our journey together. I think he’s maybe the best AD I’ve seen for a long time. He is now 18 years old and the fact he has this level already… I think Smash can be here [at Worlds] in five years, for sure.”
Rekkles on being a mentor in the T1 academy team
“I kind of wanted to make this journey earlier in my career, because I thought once I make the move over, there’s not much point in coming back [to Europe], to be honest. I’m 28 now, so in some way I wish it happened sooner, because at my age I don’t have unlimited time to play [at the pro level].
“I’m learning a lot, I feel like this year was a good learning experience for me and I want to keep riding that wave. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I should stick to it as long as I can.
“Playing in Korea gave me a lot of hope again for my future. I’ve had a good year with my life as well, learning a new language and hanging out with rookies that live and breathe the game.”
What is Rekkles doing at Worlds 2024?
“It’s weird [being here], it’s my duty as a T1 player to help the team in any way I can. I got called up to be here as a sub, and it’d be not so smart to not say yes to this.
“I’m along for the ride, and that’s fine with me. I’m not here to be the centre of attention, I’m just here to support the guys in any way I can, and so far that’s been playing chess with Faker and Gumayusi and Keria! And I’m winning!” (laughs)
“Speaking to Faker, there is no point for me to tell him anything [in-game wise], I just try to support him, ask him how he is, if he needs anything, play some chess to get his brain going.”
Rekkles on Western teams ‘not seeing the big picture’ at Worlds
“Western teams tend to see the small picture in games, it’s the Western mindset, but I can see Caps being someone that thinks about the big picture and that’s what the West needs.
“We need to think more about the big picture and not lose games at 24 minutes even though we’re winning on kills. There’s something wrong with this and we need to open our eyes, Caps is great at this, I love watching him play the game.”
He also made this post, comparing his time with T1 and G2/Fnatic:
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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.
