Week 2: Baseline Measurement

So, this week’s task was to take a baseline measurement to figure out my starting Rocket League skill level.

To do this I had to reach Level 10 to unlock Competitive 1v1 matches to test my skill in 1v1s. To get to Level 10 I played casual matches until I leveled up enough, and during this time I did not play 1v1 matches and did not take any pointers from my boyfriend and resident expert, Tyler, who is helping me train to get better.

Once I got to Level 10, the Competitive 1v1s were underway. Rocket League has you play 10 matches to determine your rank based on how you did in those matches (i.e. wins-losses). Those 10 matches were, in a word, rough. There were definitely some good moments, but also some infuriating mishaps. Below is a video compilation of my 10 matches contributing to my baseline rank.

After all of that my rank was…………….

SILVER II DIVISION III

Now, if you’re a noob like me, then you have no idea what that means.

The ranks in Rocket League range all the way from Bronze to Super Sonic Legend. Each of those ranks has 3 Tiers (e.g. Bronze 1, 2, 3) and each of those Tiers has four Divisions (e.g. Bronze 1 Division 1, 2, 3, 4). After clearing all of the Divisions in a Tier, you advance to the next Tier up. When you clear the highest Division of the highest Tier, you move up to the next Rank. However, if your performance is bad, you can move down the scale and go backwards.

So, from where I am now, when I clear Silver II Division 3, I will be Silver II, Division 4. Then when I clear Division 4, I will move up a tier to Silver III Division 1.

Even though it might look like Platinum Rank is not too far from Silver, it is actually very difficult to get there.

MY PLAN GOING FORWARD

Now that I have a baseline measurement of my Rocket League skill, I can start training to improve my weaknesses and enhance my strengths.

First, I will start by analyzing the 10 matches I played to get to my baseline with my resident expert to identify what I need to work on first to improve at the skill. After we identify what to focus on, I will buckle down and get to business.

My estimated training plan will involve more training exercises than playing actual matches in Rocket League. I plan to practice 5 days a week, with 2 hours of practice 3 times a week and 1 hour of practice 2 times a week for a total of 8 hours of practice per week. Every day I will do training exercises for 1 hour, and on the 2-hour days I will also play 1v1 matches for 1 hour after training. Hopefully this will be appropriate to help me improve!

Stay tuned to see how my first week of training goes!