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Canadian esports outfit M80 Esports have revealed the acquisition of former French Counter-Strike player Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer as their head coach for the 2023 Valorant season.
It is fair to say that Happy is one of the Vast esports player to be on the active esports community. The former player started his pro Counter-Strike career as early as 2007—making him a certified veteran in Counter-Strike-related matters. The 31-year-old player transitioned to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2012 and left in 2021, almost spending a decade in the game.
The retired CS:GO player immediately took on another career path at Valorant, where he achieved exceptional success. He has represented Valorant teams such as StartedFromCS, Orgless, Giants Gaming, Excel Esports, and most recently Ream BDS. The French player is now launching a career in coaching.
Since launching his Valorant career, the former player has made key highlights that have brought him to stardom, such as being voted by HLTV as the 10th best player of 2014 and also the 8th best player of 2015.
According to Chief Executive Officer of M80, CEO Marco Mereu, Happy brings with him a special combination of top-tier expertise, has the ability to execute under pressure, and has the capacity to collaborate with players and bring out the very best in them.
“There is only one Happy. I guess you have to know him. He brings a unique blend of experience at the highest level of FPS play, performing in pressure moments and the ability to work with and bring out the best in those around him,” Mereu said.
“These are the most important traits we wanted for our head coach who is working with capable and experienced players. They respect him and what he has accomplished and that this is his newest challenge. Together with Gunter we feel very good about our coaching and support staff heading into Challengers.”
Happy also took to his Twitter account to break the exciting news of his career advancement. He also stated that even though they have challenging games ahead of them, he is confident that with their strong combination of wonderful players, they will come out on top.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been active on Twitter, but today is a big day, and I’m announcing the next step in my career: I’ve moved into the position of head coach,” said Happy.
“My new home? M80, a team full of talented players with one goal in mind: to earn a place in the international league by winning the Ascension tournament. We have a lot of work and tough battles ahead of us, but I believe that in this group of players we have all the ingredients to make our team successful.”
The French player who has also served as an analyst noted that he got motivated to embark on an adventure in coaching when he was an analyst for a French league. He said he has garnered much experience from that phase and feels he has so much knowledge to impart on the player.
“When did I make my decision? It happened when I was working as an analyst in the French league, watching all these games (and international tournaments too) and seeing how much experience and advice I could give to so many players, I realized that my value is no longer as a player on the server, but as a person who works behind a team,” he said.
“It came naturally, and within a short period of time, I solved the problem: I want to help the team achieve greatness. I know it’s going to be a long road to becoming one of the best coaches in the world, but it’s become all I want to do and all I can think of.”
Happy will be coaching the M80 Valorant players, which includes 21-years old Canadian,Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic, former Version1 player Alexander “Zander” Dituri, Marki “NiSMO” Tayar, Moroccan duelist Mohamed Amine “Johnqt” Ouarid, Canadian/ Italian player GianFranco “koalanoob” Potestio and their British assistant coach Gunter.
In an interview, Happy said he already started practicing with the players, and on February 1, M80 is scheduled to start their Valorant Challengers run.
