The Guard winning Americas Ascension and ascending to the top tier of competitive VALORANT that is the VCT Americas League is one of the great triumphs in recent esports history. A team of players stuck together despite opportunities to go elsewhere and won a one-and-only promotion to go play in the big leagues.
As if a story like that isn’t enough on its own, the young players who wrote it also had to play through doubts and genuine concerns about their long-term futures brought about by mass layoffs at The Guard. And while they were understandably scared, their coach Josh “JoshRT” Lee managed to keep them focused on the ultimate solution to their concerns: winning.
“It was really scary for them,” JoshRT told Acend content creator Donnie “Elevated” Chell in a recent interview. “I had to reassure them that no matter what happens, we’re such a good group [that] we can make this work. The whole season I’ve been promoting ‘let’s be problem-solvers’; this is just another problem to solve.”
In late February, The Guard laid off all the employees across its content, social, talent, and creative teams. Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the ownership group for The Guard as well as the Los Angeles Gladiators (OWL) and the Los Angeles Guerrillas (CDL), effectively kept only the people needed to compete across its various esports divisions.
Read more: The Guard owners reportedly seeking to sell or shut down LA Gladiators and Guerrillas
For the VALORANT players, this occurred right in the middle of the first NA Challengers split of the year, and The Guard even lost their very next match in a 2-0 defeat against TSM. But rather than let the players dwell on things outside of their control, JoshRT had the team focus on what they themselves could fix, like their play on Lotus, Split, and Fracture. “Being short-sighted helped,” he said, “[and] being focused on the job.”
Even when they got back to their winning ways, JoshRT said the whole team felt pressured to continue winning, with everyone feeling like they were “playing for their jobs” during the NA playoffs and Ascension. “It was high pressure, high stakes, [but] we prepared all year for this moment, so the pressure wasn’t overwhelming for us,” JoshRT said. “We actually play a lot better with the pressure, and it showed.”
The coach admitted he didn’t have any plans for the offseason, given that he was so laser-focused on winning Ascension. Looking ahead to next season, JoshRT hopes he can get a coaching staff to work with for VCT Americas. Whether or not the team plays as The Guard is to be determined, with the owners reportedly seeking to shut down or sell off its CDL and/or OWL franchises.
