PSA: Awareness is ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ more important than rotation

This topic is relevant to all, but I think it is most relevant to Platinum and Diamond players. If you want to learn more about fundamentals in general, I highly recommend this short tutorial series by Allstar.

When it comes to Rocket League, I have a very personal relationship with awareness. The thing about awareness is, for some of us, it's one of the hardest skills to coach yourselves through learning.

What's the big deal?

Do you need to learn a new mechanic? Simply follow some tutorials and grind out the muscle memory. Do you need to get better at deciding when to pick up boost? Well, if you're paying attention, you'll hopefully notice over time when you get punished for making the wrong decision. But if you have poor awareness, you will lose challenges without understanding why, you will get scored on without understanding why, you will frustrate your teammates without understanding why, and so on.

Maybe the natural response to these situations, for some players, is to realize these moments are happening because they are not paying enough attention, and then to pay more attention.

On the other hand, I think it's easier to underestimate a few factors that can make a lack of awareness less obvious, and thus less natural to learn your way out of it, than you might think.

• It may be hard to tell if your opponent has beaten you to a challenge because they were faster, or because they had better awareness.
• As teammates, a combination of my poor awareness and your obvious mistake can lead to us getting scored on. I may not realize that I should have supported you better by being more aware and therefore in a better position, when you made a glaring error and are easy to blame.
• It may not be obvious that better players move their camera around to gather information, and so you may think you're paying as much attention as you can, when you are not.
• Paying more attention to the field means you have less brainpower to spare on how you're aiming your aerial and performing other mechanics, and that may make you play worse at times, making it difficult to learn what to do.

Do I have a problem with awareness?

As you play, ask yourself a simple question--at any given moment, how much do I know about the current state of the field? This includes the positions of your teammates, the positions of your opponents, their speeds, their boost levels, what their options are, what tendencies they have, and so on. The more you know, the more you good options you have. If you know a defender is backwards, you may be able to move in closer. But you have to pay attention. If you find yourself unable to answer the most basic questions about the state of the field, then develop a habit of asking this question many times a game, until it is natural.

If you're like me, it may take deliberately practicing improved awareness to overcome the hurdle. And if you're like me, when you finally put two and two together and pay more attention, the game will become more fun and less frustrating! I could go on about this but I think it would be better to see what others have to say in the comments below.