Unlike Craven Crusaders, G2 Esports are a professional organisation, having years of experience in esports. G2 Esports have organised training sessions, dedicating all of their time towards progressing in the esports industry. Furthermore, G2 have coaches and managers for each individual team, improving team chemistry, training routines, progression evaluations, and more, Craven Crusaders do not have dedicated team roles, affecting performance. Before a game, G2 have extensive training and scrim matches, sometimes lasting for eight hours, Craven Crusaders did not have as much time to spare, limiting the ability to create training routines and scrim matches.

Overall, with G2 being a much more established team, they are more likely to succeed in their games, learning from their mistakes with VOD reviews, coaches and dedicated sessions for improvements. Craven Crusaders could benefit much more having practice time, personalised warm-up routines and better management (dedicated roles, coaches, managers).

Recruiting new players for an esports team is a challenging process. Looking for replacements, back-up players and fresh talent requires consideration of various factors. You will need to consider what role, skill level and playstyle you are looking for in your recruit alongside looking at all the considerations for fitting in with the rest of the team, for example, looking at the teams' goals and objectives, values, ensuring everyone has similar visions. In many teams, it is the coach and team manager who look for new recruits. If they are recruiting a replacement for a player in a team, they would have to ensure that the new player does not interfere with the chemistry of the existing team, instead making sure they add to the chemistry.

After identifying potential recruits, analysing and assessing their performance rigorously plays a huge role in considering how a player contributes to the team's long-term success. Paying attention to their decision-making, adaptability, and consistency in different games and situations is essential in making sure you are recruiting the best player. You would also need to consider their performance under pressure as esports can be intense, you will need to recruit players who can maintain composure when needed.

In professional teams, there will often be a trial period, in which the player will be able to play alongside their new team, allowing the coach and manager to assess whether they are good fit for the team. It also lets the player themselves see if they feel comfortable with the team they are playing for. Professional teams will only announce the roster change after they have found the perfect fit for their team to create less confusion and more certainty for the public (making sure the public know the coaches have replaced a player with someone capable). For example, after Evil Geniuses (EG), a professional VALORANT team won the VALORANT Champions 2023 event, some players (Demon1 & Ethan) parted ways with EG, moving to a different team (NRG). However, NRG did not announce they joined their team until they assessed and concluded the players would be a good fit for the team. Professional teams will look at previous tournament statistics, rankings and previous scrim results to further conclude if the player is a good fit for the team. For example, the recruitment period for a player like "Demon1" was much less rigorous due to his previous record of winning the VALORANT Champions 2023 event, also being the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the event.

In amateur teams, there is a recruitment period, but due to amateur teams having very little experience in the competitive esports scene, they will recruit the best players possible, often disregarding the team chemistry aspect and looking at pure skill of the player. For example, in the Craven Crusaders VALORANT team, they had four members in the team, they still needed one more, therefore they held a recruitment period where any players who wanted to join the VALORANT team would play against each other, with the current members of the team too, in a game. Those who performed well would be considered for the team. However, due to the limitations of students in the esports course, it was difficult finding a perfect fit for the team, therefore they had to recruit players based on skill, not on communication, teamwork or chemistry. Often with amateur teams, they will accept players straight into the team after the recruitment period, allowing them to play games straight away with the team, this could be a waste of time if the player does not fit with the rest of the team, losing valuable time for the team to find a new player who fits better in the team.

In conclusion, the difference between professional and amateur team recruitment is very different. The recruitment for a professional team is much more rigorous and timely, whereas the recruitment for amateur teams is much less competitive, recruiting members based on skill alone.

In most cases, every esports team has a team coach and a team manager, if not multiple of each. A coach and manager are in charge of managing a team, managing team visions, setting of goals, recruitment of players, administrative and financial responsibilities.

Managing an esports team requires clear visibility of your goals and visions. You need to understand what you are trying to achieve as a team, what your values and principles are and how you are wanting to be viewed by the esports community. Having these clear visions will help you align your actions and decisions with your desired outcomes. It will also allow you to communicate expectations and standards to your players, sponsors and fans. Recruiting and retaining the right players is a huge step to managing an esports team. Looking for players who have the skills, attitude and personality that fit your team's visions and culture is what makes up an esports team. As a manager you will need to provide support, feedback and incentives to motivate them to perform at their best and stay loyal to their team. As stated previously, considering the diversity, responsibilities and compatibilities of your players in the team is also part of the coaching role required in esports team management.

An esports team manager is the primary administrator for a team, organizing the team and making sure the players are prepared for competitions. Managers handle the logistics of scheduling practices while also scouting and recruiting new talent. Managers handle the creative duties with the teams branding, they select team colours and oversee logo designs, uniforms and equipment. They also manage the search for sponsors, partners and patrons alongside registering the team for competitions and tournaments. According to team Vitality's Fortnite manager "Samy Mazouzi", "A manager is expected to lead the overall project...On paper the balance can be complicated and their primary responsibility is to ensure that players only have to worry about the game. And make both parties understand the needs of the other".

Each team also has a financial manager, they are responsible for managing the financial operations of their teams. This includes managing financial reporting, creating and managing budgets, analysing financial data and making financial projections. Their primary goal is to ensure that the organization's financial operations are running smoothly. They may be responsible for negotiating contracts, managing cash flow and overseeing accounting functions. For example, they may create player contract budgets, sponsorship budgets and team equipment budgets, seeing how much money can be put into where.

However, in amateur teams, financial managers, team managers and coaches may not be available within the team. Due to their lack of experience in high-tiered esports events, many people do not want to be apart of a team they wont benefit from, no matter the experience they  gain. This means amateur teams suffer from not having these positions filled, they will receive no guidance from a coach, may struggle with budgeting without a financial manager and may not schedule practice sessions often enough, causing the team to not gain the practice needed to improve.

In conclusion, coaches, financial managers and team managers are essential for succeeding esports teams. Without them, they will suffer dramatically in many ways. As stated above, they will struggle with finance and budgeting, management of rosters, scheduling practice sessions, they will also lack guidance and more.

There are many roles involved within an esports team. Some of these roles include, professional player, coaches and analysts, team managers, social media managers and more. Most, if not all of these roles are essential in creating a successful esports team, a lack of these roles are partly why some teams never succeed as they should.

Professional Player

A professional esports player is an obvious role within a team, alongside coaches and analysts, they are arguably the ones who do the most up-front work for the team, the other roles in an esports team are essential, but do more background work than up-front work. Professional players are the best of the best at their game of choice, they sit within teams that have specific roles based on the game, for example, a professional VALORANT team all have roles in-game, each player has a dedicated role, there would be a "Duelist", a "Sentinel", an "Initiator" and a "Controller". Professional players practice for about 10 hours a day so within the industry, there is a huge focus on health and fitness to avoid burnout.

Analyst and Coach

These roles help prepare and train professional players. Coaches are a key part of a professional player's career, an analyst or coach, watches competition recordings to pick out areas of improvement, allowing the team to see where improvements need to be made, refining their playing skills. Coaches and analysts keep up-to-date on opposing teams playing styles, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their team, supporting their physical and mental health and helping to strategize for tournaments and events. This role requires the same amount of time and effort as professional players, when your team succeeds, so do you.

Team Manager

As stated previously, the team manager oversees everything, working with both coaches and players to get the best results they can from their team. The manager has the responsibility of making the decisions about the direction of the team, covering everything that a typical team owner from other sports would be expected to do, including, hiring players, branding, marketing and planning. Managers handle the logistics of scheduling practices while also scouting and recruiting new talent. Managers handle the creative duties with the teams branding, they select team colours and oversee logo designs, uniforms and equipment. They also manage the search for sponsors, partners and patrons alongside registering the team for competitions and tournaments.

Team Marketing

Successful marketing activities bring sponsorships and partnerships, bigger tournaments and more money. It is a very complex job that requires careful navigating. Reputation of your organisation/team is everything, one mistake or accident can push your team off path long term, disrupting opportunities for players, the team in general and the overall organisation. Marketing in esports means promoting the team in a positive way to the whole industry, hours can be long but it is a rewarding career to see your organisation or team grow positively.

Evaluating the strength of an esports team requires consideration of many aspects. Key factors include individual player skills, such as mechanical skills, game knowledge and consistency.  Team chemistry and coordination are equally as important as effective communication can significantly improve execution of strategies. Performance evaluations from previous events provide insights to the team's resilience under pressure, also allowing an organisation to see the effectiveness of the coaches and managers. All of these aspects are essential elements for understanding a teams strengths and weaknesses, allowing a team to see where improvements need to be made and what individual strengths a team has.