Polly departs Apeks

The assistant coach departs the organization as the expiry of his contract draws near.

Pål "⁠Polly⁠" Kammen has announced the end of his time with Apeks, an organization he joined as a player in 2019 before transitioning to a coaching role. The announcement comes mere days after the team concluded their run to the semi-finals of the BLAST.tv Paris Major.

The Norwegian emphasized his drive and motivation to continue coaching in light of the upcoming release of CS2, and encouraged teams looking for an experienced coach to contact him.

Polly, as an assistant coach, had been part of an Apeks project that recovered magnificently from the ill-fated iteration of the roster that included French legend Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon. That lineup withdrew from all competition in September of last year amidst poor results.

The squad eventually settled on Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski as a replacement for shox at the start of this year and went from strength to strength in the online scene, rising up the world rankings thanks to solid placings such as second place finishes in back-to-back CCT West Europe Series.

The culmination of their rapid improvement was a majestic underdog run at the recent BLAST Paris Major, where the team took down squads like Ninjas in Pyjamas and Liquid on their way to a top-four finish.

Polly originally came into Apeks as a player back in 2019, transitioning to a coaching role later in the year. He had been part of the coaching staff ever since, bar a brief period standing-in for the active roster in 2020.

First the head coach of the team and then an assistant coach with the arrival of Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczyński mid-way through 2022, he was part of successes such as their ESEA Advanced Season 43 win earlier this year and of course the aforementioned run at the BLAST Paris Major.