Season 6 Ep 7 — The Parallels of Gaming and Sports: Mental Tactics and Coaching With Amine Issa
In this special episode, we explore the insights of Amine Issa, Ph.D., on the intersection of gaming and numerous disciplines, such as esports, Formula 1, and even the military. Amine has spent 25 years obsessively playing video games and even competed professionally. He spent five years researching the extremes of human performance at the Mayo Clinic. His findings help develop new technology and techniques to assess human-integrated physiology, specifically in mobile health and remote monitoring. In studying performance optimization in athletic, military and esports fields, he has discovered a clear overlap between esports athletes and traditional performers and how gaming skills can translate to broader contexts. He discusses the value of "range" and mental strategies in gaming and highlights the evolving roles of coaching, sports psychology and fitness within the esports industry. Whether you're a coach, gamer, or just curious about the intersection of gaming and performance, this unique episode will open your mind to new concepts. Amine is now the founder and CEO of Mobalytics, a gaming performance assessment and optimization platform. They aim to help all competitive gamers learn from their data to make meaningful improvements — not dissimilar to endurance athletes using data for better performance. This interview was conducted at a TrainingPeaks All-Staff, where we regularly gather and learn from experts in fields other than endurance athletics. Learn more about TrainingPeaks and how it can improve your endurance sport performance.