- This puts an end to the CS:GO professional’s almost four-year-long stay with the organization
- Polly thanked Apeks for the time spent and said he is open to new coaching offers
- Results at the BLAST Premier Paris Major seem to lay in this decision
Having been part of Apeks since 2019, assistant coach Pål “Polly” Kammen is leaving the organization.
Polly Leaves Apeks
Just days after Apeks concluded their run at the BLAST Premier Paris Major, their assistant coach Pål “Polly” Kammen announced he is leaving the CS:GO organization. The 32-year-old Norwegian’s contract with the team has expired, marking the end of a four-year stint with Apeks.
Polly first joined the team in 2019 as a player, but quickly transitioned to the role of assistant coach. He had been part of the coaching staff ever since excluding a brief period as a standing-in for the active roster in 2020. He then took Apeks’ helm and sat as the head coach of the organization until the arrival of Jakub “kuben” Gurczynski mid-way through 2022.
In the post announcing his departure from Apeks, Polly emphasized his motivation to continue coaching in the new era of Counter-Strike 2 and reached out to organizations who may be looking for an experienced coach to contact him.
During his time with the team, Polly helped Apeks recover from the ill-fated iteration of the roster that included French legend Richard “shox” Papillon. The lineup backed away from all competition in September of 2022 due to poor results. Apex eventually stabilized by signing Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski as a replacement for shox at the start of this year. What followed was Apeks rising in prowess on the online scene, climbing the world rankings thanks to solid placings like second-place finishes in back-to-back CCT West Europe Series.
The Culmination of Apeks’ race to the top was them eliminating Ninjas in Pijamas and Liquid from the BLAST Paris Major on their way to the tournament’s semifinals. Unfortunately, Apeks didn’t go much further and placed fourth at the event’s end. This also seems to be the reason why Apeks decided not to extend the assistant coach’s contract, despite Polly being a part of the organization for almost four years.
“We have made the difficult decision to not extend Pål “Polly” Kammen’s professional contract, when it expires on June 30th,” a statement from Apeks reads. “Pål has been with us from the very beginning, making this decision all the more challenging. Unfortunately, we have not performed as well as we expected, despite the resources allocated to our CS:GO main team. Ultimately, results are what matter most.”
