the esports tribune

i know i know.. he goes by noly now. sue me i like the original.

if you’re new here – welcome in to another edition of behind the tag, the series where we dive a little deeper with your favorite rocket league players, and professionals alike.

i have been beyond excited for this interview, and i absolutely had a blast. i am so thankful to get to share these stories with you!

without further ado – nolystic

for those of you who don’t know noly, hes a 21 year old professional rocket league player for gen. g mobil 1 esports. he’s originally from liverpool, and just recently made the move to the us.

i quickly came to find out, that like the majority of the internet’s gamertags, noly’s came from a random name generator. he told me he literally just googled “good name for gamertags” and nolystic came up (which was a mouthful so now we are sticking with noly). as a kid his first ever gamertag was something along the lines of ‘gaminghd’, so i’d say he had a massive improvement.

BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT WE CARE ABOUT! WE ARE NOT HERE TO DELVE INTO HIS ROCKET LEAGUE CAREER! (although we will because i would be remiss to not touch on that)!

forget noly- lets meet joseph kidd.

i asked him the *fated question*

“who is joseph kidd” – i was met with another sigh here (again a very reasonable response, and it was like the third sentence we exchanged so i dont blame him)

“honestly i’m still trying to figure that one out.”

like most young twenty-somethings, joseph was struggling with finding who he was. he’s still young and is just looking to learn all the things he wants, and the things he enjoys. he told me that he’s often too hard on himself, but with time he knows he’ll figure it out.

i wanted more though- what does joseph LOVE? what are his passions? – i could tell when i asked these questions that he absolutely lit up. there was a shift in energy when he was talking about these things.

he LOVES clothes. (in my personal opinion, joe is one of the more stylish professional players, and you can argue with me about that). clothes and fashion are such a big thing for him. he developed his love for clothing from his parents. they always put themselves together so well, and he always wanted to be just like them.

recently one of his favorite places to shop has been urban outfitters. he loves simple, baggy types of clothing, essentially streetwear. that being said, he always switches it up, and will ALWAYS match the theme of an event.

his love for clothes and fashion goes beyond just dressing himself. about 8 months ago (pre gen. g), joseph was really looking into starting his own clothing brand. as a child, he grew up poor, and now that he has finally found this career in rocket league he has the money to chase the things he wants – a clothing brand being one of them!

unfortunately, it seemed like it would just be a lot on top of competing, and quite frankly everything else. right now, joseph is searching for a healthy balance of work and free time, and if he did the clothing brand in his free time it would end up just being work too.

while he wants to design things he would wear himself, he also wants to create pieces a little more outlandish. modern clothing is very simple and minimalistic, and he wants to create a line filled with layers and crazy materials. essentially – a high fashion vibe.

aside from fashion, joe is SUPER into music, and listens to it 24/7. when i saw 24/7, i mean actually 24/7. in the shower, while playing, while sleeping. he told me it is ALWAYS playing. some of his favorite artists recently are : the weeknd, wisps, and men i trust.

the thing joseph was the most passionate about though, was his family. it was immediately obvious that he’s a big family man. when i asked about the things he loves the first thing he mentioned was his family, especially his younger sisters. one is 17 (turning 18 soon! if you for some reason read this, happy late birthday!), and the other is 14. the entire family is extremely tight knit, and he misses them a lot since the move to the us.

speaking of the move to the us (great transition by me, am i right?), its actually not going amazing. its not awful by any means, but joe definitely thinks it could be better. he misses home, family, and friends, but he’s known that he has to make sacrifices for his career. na quite frankly pays better, and he’s doing what he’s wanted to do his entire life.

growing up, joseph always knew he wanted to do something different. at about 7 or 8 years old, he swore he would never work a ‘normal’ job he hated. joe actually almost never got to do his dream job.

when he was old enough to get a job, he applied for footlocker.

“the interview was a bullshit group interview, asking me nonsense like ‘whats your spirit animal?’”

he swore to himself that if he got the job at footlocker he would quit rocket league. they turned him down for not being outgoing enough, and a week later joe made the rival series with monkeymoon and zenzus.

talk about fate right?

he immediately knew rocket league was what he wanted to do. when he was 15, joe had been playing in smaller tournaments making a couple hundred here and there, but his family never really understood it, and thought it was a waste of time.

at 17 he tried for the rival series, and made it on his first try.

from there, it kept growing. he received his first contract at singularity, getting 1K a month. it wasnt lifechanging money by any means, but it was similar to what his mom was making at the time. he could match it, but still had to think about the future.

the moment it finally felt real was the guild contract he recieved. joe was getting 7k a month at 17/18. he knew then that he had made it.

touching on the money for a moment, joseph was SO transparent about his previous salaries and payouts, and just was quite frankly so real about it, which i absolutely appreciated.

the money has been one of the most rewarding parts for him. growing up, his family did not have a lot of money. he’s now at a point where he’s able to financially help out his family, and whenever his sisters want to go shopping, or do something fun, hes able to provide. (if you haven’t noticed by now, joe absolutely dotes on his sisters). its also been nice to be able to treat himself, and being able to buy things that he never could’ve as a kid.

a recent very big reward i’m sure we’re all very aware of is the fall major in rotterdam. the boys had just moved to america, and no one really expected much out of them.

it was the perfect cinderella story.

no one expected them to win, and yet, they did.

“i remember crying and crying and thinking ‘what the fuck we just did this?”

its gone down as one of his favorite memories in his career thus far.

that split, he just had so much trust in the team. they had been putting in the work, and throughout every series joe never once thought they would lose.

the second split however- gen. g. got complacent- and this was something he readily admitted. theres something to be said about a rocket league player with humility. it’s a welcome change. (only a slight jab to the twitter users 😉 )

there was a short silence after we talked about the second split – he thought for a second before confidently saying the third split will be BETTER than the first. the team has been working harder, and talking more.

on a personal note, joe always performs the best in the third split. during the summer he’s just simply ON. the mentality is peak, his headspace is perfect, and everything just works. when the winters get gloomy its a big difficult, and theres days he’ll wake up and not give it his all. its something that really bothers him, because its just guaranteed. with seasonal depression, theres not really anything he can DO besides hope for warmer days and sun, and perform as well as he can. i feel that in quite honesty.

rocket league can’t be forever though, and joe does have plans for the future.

i asked about college – as a college student myself, i wondered if he felt like he was ‘missing out’.

he has zero regrets about not going to college. theres no sense in regretting it, because he can’t change it now. college can always be in the future, and he does have a comp sci degree in the uk ! (please don’t ask me about the uk school system i cannot explain it to you.)

after rocket league, he really hopes to create an agency. joseph thinks he’s good at dealing with contracts, and to help players actually get their worth. a lot of this inspiration comes from his agency, which joe could not speak more highly of. he mentioned a man named liam that’s with digital talent that joe is very close with. he’s someone that joseph really sees as a mentor in the scene.

liam isn’t joe’s only inspiration. when i asked him about some mentors in the scene, there was not a single pause.

“jknaps”

he’s a player thats been on the top for so long, that joe thinks he can really do it too. jkaps always puts in the work, and gets the job done as well as he can. a professional through and through!

another honorable mention – violentpanda. he has always been a professional, and genuine person.

lastly, allushin (i had his name spelled all sorts of wrong, joe kindly corrected me)

for those of you who dont know, allu is the coach for gen.g, and someone that joe looks up to so much. he’s kind of like an older brother, he’s respectable and everyone likes him. thats the exact type of person that joseph is aiming to be.

(he’s on his peaceful arc right now everyone, in case you were wondering)

something we breezed past a little earlier that i wanted to bring back up is this constant war that 20-somethings wage on themselves. joe is no different. his struggles and thoughts echo a lot of things i feel, and i think the majority of us feel on a daily basis.

theres things going well right now, and things not going so great.

on the not so great front, just the idea of being lost. he doesn’t know where he wants to go, who he wants to be, or how he wants to be perceived. theres just constant thinking about these identity topics, and it tends to bring him down.

everything that’s going so well really brings him back to reality though.

in joe’s own words –

“i live in a penthouse, i make crazy money playing a video game, i have great friends, i’m attractive, and i’m good with women. things are pretty alright”

a common theme with joe that rang throughout our conversation was just grateful. you can just tell this dude is so thankful for everything that he is able to have, and the experiences he gets to do.

(that probably didn’t come across in the quote but i giggled at that quote and had to drop it in)

even at times when the mental does slip (like everyones does), he’s learning how to set himself back up into a balanced state, and learning that its okay to not be okay.

joe has a fantastic support system around him, that help him combat the heavy imposter syndrome he sometimes feels. its like whiplash almost. somedays he feels like he is the best player in the world, and other days it feels like he doesn’t deserve to be on the team at all.

but- his teammates and friends support him through that perfectly.

the team specifically is extremely close, like family.

most teams say that they’re like family, but it is genuinely like my little family in a way. we bicker and fight and piss each other off but its all just love.

but we aren’t done yet- it wouldn’t be a hana interview without HOTSEAT

(if you’re new here, hotseat is random rapid fire questions meant to have shorter answers and just be goofy)

HOTSEAT HOTSEAT HOTSEAT HOTSEAT

what was your first job?

rlrs (lucky, right?)- as a kid i would skip school and say i was sick. sometimes instead of going home and laying in bed and playing games, i went to work with my dad to tile houses and stuff.

on a scale of 1-10 how funny do you think you are?

3-4, humor is not one of my strong suits, but it is with my irl friends. i’m only funny because its a sort of collective funny, if that makes sense.

i’ll interject one more time to say i disagree with this self rate. i’d absolutely raise that number up. we were laughing for the majority of the interview.

i also have a voice recording of joe saying “go dawgs!” now, so i guess i converted a new georgia fan.

starbucks or dunkin?

neither (THE HORROR.)

well if you had to go to starbucks what would you order?

the strawberry refresher

favorite movies?

the king, perks of being a wallflower, and little women

we carefully analyzed the plot of the little women movie after he said this. we reached the same consensus that jo was portrayed incorrectly and should’ve ended up with laurie.

favorite fast food chain?

i’m not a big fan of american fast f ood, they can’t do much right. if i had to choose somewhere in america, i would say shake shack. but in the uk, its nandos and wagamamas. the food is proper and you don’t feel gross after.

two pet peeves?

1.) people who eat with their mouth open

2.) people who act weird in public.

his explanation for #2 was that when he’s in public, he puts his earphones in, keeps to himself, and just lives his own life. when people get in the way of that or are just acting a fool in public it gets frustrating.

favorite meal?

scouse

if you’re like me, you had 0 idea what this is, and spelled it completely wrong. its essentially a stew, made with vegetables and meat. it originates from liverpool. people from liverpool were called scouses, hence the name. joe’s grandparents cook it all the time when he’s back home, and so do his parents, who are both amazing cooks. he struggles to replicate the recipes even though he’s tried.

whats a useless skill you have?

being good at rocket league *insert giggling here*

joe is naturally talented at basically any game he touches. he was almost radiant in 220 hours, was global in cs in 500 hours, and was almost diamond in siege. because of this, he’s thought about trying other games, but joe doesn’t want to end up in the same position, not enjoying the game, but its a job.

that being said – he still loves rocket league sometimes, but loves competing rather than just playing ranked. he lost the love for ranked a long, long time ago. ( i dont blame him)

who would win, 1 billion lions, or one of every pokemon?

1 of every pokemon… but a billion is a fuck ton of lions…. but mewto

inconclusive

what shows have you been watching recently?

i’m not a big tv watcher, but recently got into snowfall. it’s based in cali in the 80’s or 90’s, following the journey of a drug dealer who eventually works with the cia. its pretty good.

GIVE ME A HOT TAKE!

money doesn’t guarantee happiness, but i always thought it would since i didn’t grow up with much.

where do you see yourself in 20 years?

on a beachhouse, maybe in italy, with a beautiful wife and two or three beautiful children. there is nothing more i want than to be a husband and a dad. i always dote on my sisters, and i know i’ll be worse with my children. they’ll be so spoiled my wife will have to be the stern one.

whoever made that tweet the other day about the top 5 rocket league pros you would let date your daughter – add this man immediately.

favorite color?

like a darker pastel green. does that make sense?

kind of. i think.

have you ever broken a bone?

i broke my elbow when i fell from a 20 foot fence. i had to climb over this stupid fence to play football on my high school field, and a friend thought it was funny to shake the fence. i fell directly on my arm and it was placed super awkwardly. fortunately, it healed quickly (As most of his injuries do), and he was going on holiday the next day and ended up not getting a cast.

follow up question, did you play football?

joe laughed at this. i am an uneducated american. i am aware.

football is like the heart of liverpool. everyone plays. i played extremely well until i was like 12 to 13, but then discovered rocket league and got a bit lazy.

do you have any pets?

i have a cat back in liverpool. his name is laloush, but we call him loulou. i don’t think i’ll be able to bring him back to america at all. at home we have two cats, and a dog.

joe reminds me a lot of myself. there’s a lot we covered that can’t be translated perfectly to a simple blogpost – but he is such a genuine, and positive person. he’s realistic, while also believing in the power of manifestation.

this is a person who wants to make a positive impact on the space, and is soaking up every moment of it that he can – and i think that’s f****** awesome.

so did you fall in love after reading this? thats awesome and great to hear. i’d be remiss to not drop a few social links –

you can find joseph HERE : https://twitter.com/Nolystic

and here : https://twitch.tv/nolystic

did you read this piece and think.. man.. the interviewer is so good at her job and so interesting! that’s so awesome – you can find me on any social media, @nebbiiee

drop your comments, follow up questions, and concerns!

(and maybe take a quick guess on who our next interview is 😉

❤