Pro gamer tips for playing at your very best

pocket-lint.com:

(Pocket-lint) — Gaming is big business. Mobile gaming is estimated to have been worth approximately $93.2 billion (£73.7 billion) in 2021 alone, console gaming $50.4 billion, while PC gaming is said to have raked in around $36.7 billion in the last year.

That's $180.3 billion in just 2021 alone. And it's rising. It is no longer a niche pursuit enjoyed by teenage boys in their bedrooms — no matter what some would have you believe. It is the most profitable entertainment industry around and its tendrils reach just about everyone. Even those who claim not to be interested in games might dabble in a spot of Candy Crush on their smartphones, or Wordle on a work computer.

We are also now in an age where gamer prowess is no longer confined to a high-score table on an arcade machine in a kebab shop. Not only can they boast online to friends and foes in multiplayer skirmishes, there's the opportunity to use their skills on a professional stage in the world of eSports.

Pro teams for games like CS:GO, Valorant, and Fortnite are starting to become household names after years of growth for the sport, while professional football teams have even formed their own eSports squads to take on the best at FIFA. There's big money to be made at the pro levels too.

However, as the stakes rise, so too does the pressure. And that's where people like Edgar Chekera come in. As head of performance at Guild Esports, he looks after the psychological welfare of professional players, coaching them to cope with the stresses of competitive gaming.

We spoke with him for the Pocket-lint Podcast and he was kind enough to give us a few pointers on what a player can do outside of training on a game itself, in order to improve their chances at success — whether