Hey everyone!
Over the past year of coaching, I've noticed something interesting. That many of the biggest breakthroughs I've had in Rocket League didn't actually come from Rocket League itself. They came from ideas rooted in psychology, behavioural sciences and philosophy. The more I studied how people learn, build habits and make decisions, the more I realised those same principles applied almost perfectly to improving at Rocket League.
Alongside my current degree, I also studied psychology, which only reinforced how much our mindset, habits and decision making influence improvement, both in everyday life and in game.
I've wanted to write something like this for a while because I genuinely believe some of the most valuable lessons in Rocket League come from outside the game itself. So I'm starting a new series where I'll be applying timeless principles to Rocket League improvement. Rather than focusing on mechanics and gamesense alone, I want to explore the mental models and ideas that completely changed the way I approached improvement.
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If I could only teach a Rocket League player one principle, it might be this one.
There's a concept called the 80/20 Rule, which suggests that roughly 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. While it isn't an exact science, I think it applies perfectly to Rocket League.
One of the biggest mistakes I see players make is spending too much time practicing mechanics they'll barely use in actual games. It's understandable because the flashy mechanics are the ones that get the most attention. Flip resets, ceiling shots, Musty Flicks, double resets and so on dominate social media, so it's easy to assume that's what separates high ranked players from everyone else.
Unfortunately, the reality is very different. Think about how many times you shoot the ball during a match compared to how many flip resets you attempt. How many recoveries do you make? How many first touches do you take? How many times do you rotate back post, challenge the ball or collect small boost pads? These situations happen every single game. The mechanics that appear most frequently are the ones that deserve the majority of your practice.
The best players don't become great because they can occasionally do something spectacular. They become great because they're incredibly reliable in the situations that happen over and over again.
When I was climbing through the ranks, I spent far more time refining my fundamentals than learning advanced mechanics. I wanted all fundamentals to be automatic. Those same fundamentals don't make for exciting clips, but they win an incredible number of games simply because you rely on them every few seconds.
Now don't get me wrong. This doesn't mean advanced mechanics are useless. They absolutely have their place, especially once you reach the higher ranks where everyone already has solid fundamentals. The mistake is trying to build the roof of a house before laying the foundation. If you still struggle to score open nets or recover efficiently after every challenge, learning another flashy mechanic probably isn't the best use of your practice time.
A simple question I like to ask is:
"How often will I actually use this mechanic?"
If the answer is multiple times every game, it's worth investing heavily into. If the answer is once every twenty games, it probably shouldn't be eating up half your warm up.
If I had to recommend where most players should spend their time, it would be on shooting, recoveries, first touches, aerial consistency, wall play, boost management and dribbling with some basic flicks. Mastering those skills will have a much bigger impact on your rank than spending weeks trying to perfect a mechanic you'll rarely get the opportunity to use.
So the next time you open Freeplay, ask yourself whether you're practicing what looks impressive or what actually wins games, because those two things aren't always the same. If you consistently improve the skills you use every single match, your rank will naturally follow. The flashy mechanics can and always will come later.
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This is the first guide in a series where I'll be exploring timeless principles and showing how they apply to Rocket League improvement. If it helped, I've built a library of free guides designed around the same philosophy: turning high-level intuition into a structured system that anyone can apply. If you'd like to keep learning, you can find the full free collection here: https://nextlevelcoaching.gg/guides