North American League of Legends players and coaches are increasingly focused on a bigger issue than closing the gap with Eastern regions: fixing the pathway that develops players into professionals.
FlyQuest jungler Johnson “Griffynn” Le moved to Korea at just 16 to experience one of the world’s toughest League of Legends development systems. He joined T1’s academy setup and trained in a region renowned for its elite competition and player development.
However, Griffynn believes his biggest improvement came later in Brazil, where he played for LOUD in CBLOL. Despite Brazil being viewed as a lower-tier region globally, the opportunity to regularly scrim against Tier 1 players and work with an experienced coaching staff helped him develop more than his time in Korea.
“Coordinated practice will matter most,” Griffynn explained.
His experience highlights a major problem in North America: talented players have several possible routes into professional League of Legends, but none offers a clear and consistent development system.
Dignitas general manager Jonathon McDaniel identified three main pathways — the North American Challengers League, collegiate esports and joining an overseas academy. However, the traditional Tier 2 and collegiate routes have increasingly become mixed together, making it difficult to establish a clear progression for aspiring professionals.
SIDO CEO and founder Parth Naidu has also questioned whether the NACL is fulfilling its purpose.
“NACL has nothing to do with player growth,” Naidu said, while acknowledging that simply having the league is still valuable.
For North America to produce more elite players, industry figures believe the focus needs to shift toward structured practice, stronger coaching and meaningful opportunities to compete against top-level talent.
Rather than worrying about catching Korea and other Eastern regions immediately, the priority may be much simpler: build a reliable pathway that teaches young players how to become professionals in the first place.
