When he first decided to form a KartRider team, not only his acquaintances, but alsothose in the eSports industry tried to stop him, saying “Why would you throwyourself at such a long shot?” And he also knew that he was about to startsomething crazy.

However, it was not because of money or success; it was purely his passion to dosomething he wanted to for such a long time. And so he recalls the moment ofhis decision as “not worried about the failures, and ecstatic about theupcoming challenge.”

And this ‘he’ is Park In-jae, the former ‘brat’ of KartRider league, and the headcoach of RoX KartRider team. Upon acknowledging his passion, RoX Gaming tookover his team, and now Park stands firm as the head coach of a professionaleSports team.

And his performances were beyond expectation: only after a short amount of time washe able to not only form a decent team, but RoX Gaming won both Team Game andSolo Game at their first season, beating the ‘Genius’ Moon Ho-joon and ‘NewEmperor’ Yoo Young-hyuk.

Park In-jae successfully transformed from the player to the head coach. What madehim make such a bold challenge? Let’s meet Park In-Jae on a sunny day, tolisten to his story bright as the sunshine.

◆Putting an End to Moon-You Dominance

No one would ever raise objection to that KartRider League would be nothingwithout Moon Ho-jun and Yoo Yeong-hyuk. Moon Ho-jun and Yoo Yeong-hyuk had beenleading KartRider League for more than 10 years, and they never failed in puttingtheir own names on neither the finals roster nor the League winner. A goodnumber of players challenged their dominance, but they could not easily bedefeated.

But in the last Dual Race X Season, that legend came to its end. The names ofthose two players were not on the winner lists of neither individual tournamentnor team tournament. Instead, it was ROX Gaming who was on the place. So, whatreally happened?

"I did not expect that our team would make the results this fast. Ithought that winning either individual tournament or team tournament would be agreat success. As a person who has been watching how great player Moon Ho-junand Yoo Yeong-hyuk are myself, I thought that beating them would not be an easywork. I decided to regard the upcoming season as a demonstration of our players’potential. "

In fact, the reason Park could have such a humble mind was the experience hehad in the previous Season. When he first built the team, he was full ofconfidence that his team can win the tournament in the very season but he hadto taste the bitter frustration, conceding the winning to other teams.
"I was confident that I could well lead the team as I had long been theteam captain since when I was a player. So during the interviews, I talkedlarge that I would win the tournament. But the result was hardly good. Thanksto that experience, I learnt that preparing the matches while assuming that Iwould be winning the tournament does not help. It was a chance to make a stepforward as the head coach. "


Park did not aim for winning the tournament this season. He made each playermaximize one’s own capability in the own position, and established the systemto have players make the team play to the ground. He endeavored day by day, notto win the championship cup but to reach the perfection.

"As we trained not to win but to perfect ourselves, we could make positivefeedbacks even when we lost, and we could also make negative feedbacks evenwhen we won. As we stopped being obsessed with winning and started to findthings to learn and things to improve, the players were beginning to like thepracticing itself."

The players also trusted and followed the leadership of Park. They practiced todemonstrate the appeal of team play, and focused on displaying their improvingperformances. That is, they believed in the philosophy of Park that perfectplay would naturally lead them to the winning. And eventually, they have shownthe best performances and won the championship cup.

◆Park In-soo, the Birth of Star to Succeed Moon Ho-jun and Yoo Yeong-hyuk
At any rate, the hero of this Season was Park In-soo of RoX Gaming. In theindividual tournament, he defeated Moon Ho-jun and Yoo Yeong-hyuk in theSemi-finals, and in the team tournament, he led the team to the winning byachieving the victory against Moon Ho-jun.On the day of the finals ofindividual tournament and team tournament, the fans could not gape at theuprising of Park In-soo.

Park In-soo, the player often called as “the son of Park In-jae” because of thesimilarity in their names. How could he become a completely different playerjust in a Season? What kind of spell did Park In-jae cast on Park In-soo?

"A thing pierced deeply into my mind when I operated two teams in theprevious Season. When I reviewed the matches on the losing days, I could notfind any flaw in the players’ performances. Although it would be natural forskillful players to win the tournaments, it was not. The key was ‘mentality’.However, although I identified the problem, I did not know how to improve that ‘mentality’.



That is why I bought and studied books regarding sports psychology. I thoughtstudying is the only key. One thing that really surprised me was that thehardships I encountered during my career as the player were logically andsystematically covered in the sport psychology theories. While studying, Irecalled when I was a player, and I tried hard to reflect the feelings andsituations of that time when I studied. Like the racy shivers I had on the easymatch days, or the feeling as if the air is murky I felt when I was having atough match."

Park reduced practice time and returned to the house early to teach the thingshe studied to the players in the form of a class, and on the next day, hetrained the players to apply what they learnt yesterday. With this, he trainedthe players not only in the skills but also in the “mentality” so that they canrespond to diverse emotional situations they have to face on the stage.

It was Park In-soo who first reacted to “mentality training” by Park In-jae. ParkIn-soo, who was born with inborn gift, overwhelmed the matches after he earnedthe robust mentality. In the last Season, he designated the kart body andposition for Park In-soo and allowed him play as he wished. As he added therobust mentality to Park In-soo, the online gosu, the magic happened.

"If (Park) In-soon did not have that skill or did not trust in me, themagic we recently witnessed would not have happened. My help, I think, iscredited with only 10%, and the other 90% are what In-soo achieved. Now, myrole would be helping him maintain this performance."

◆RoX Gaming, the Companion
Park In-jae established the KartRider team under the determination to devote himself in eSports, and endeavored to create the “named gaming team”. But thatwas not easy. As KartRider League was a minority in the eSports, the existinggaming teams hardly paid attention to his words.

However, Park did not give up. He sent out e-mails, made phone calls to theteams he has been paying attention to, and made presentations regarding thevision, the direction of development, and objectives which he saw in KartRiderLeague,.

"My ultimate goal is to operate gaming teams in not only KartRider butalso other various sports. I was looking for a team which could best understandand pay attention to my future direction."

It was RoX Gaming that gave the most positive response to Park who has beenwaiting for the results of his best efforts. After actually meeting RoXsecretariat and making the presentation, Park was confident that he would beable to make his dream come true.

"The last Dual Race X was the pre-season before the formal contract. Fortunately, Icould have make the formal contract with RoX secretariat and the players areadjusting the details of the contracts, as we have managed to made theexcellent result this Season. The best part is that now I can share my concernswhich I used to have alone with the persons who have been operating and leadingthe teams much longer than I did. Please give me inexhaustible ideas and let mepromote those ideas with confidence.I don’t know how I can thank you enough."

RoX Gaming gave the wings to the enthusiasm of Park In-jae. Park told us thathe could make such good results, winning the team tournament and the individualtournament, in a very short time, thanks to RoX Gaming. If it were not for RoXGaming, which highly appreciated his efforts and enthusiasm, he may not havebeen joyfully working as he is now, concerning alone and keeping the concernsto himself.

Now, there is only one goal for Park.It is making the “named gaming team” byestablishing many teams in many subjectsas well as KartRider, the gaming teamto which everyone would be thumbing up and nodding when they hear the team’sname.

"Although I still have a long way to go, I am still excited and happy asit is still the first step. I expect a lot on what path I would take and whatroadmap the path I will have taken would make.I would appreciate your supportson not only KartRider League but also RoX Gaming."

Translated by ROXCrew.

*This translation was provided through a partnership with the ROXGAMING.

남윤성 기자 (thenam@dailyesports.com)