Hey, and yes - SP doesn't mean anything for either league - although it's the 2nd one that should be the focus.
Comments are key for a new Steemian - months of decent commenting on the stuff you like - preferably on the blogs of people that actually give a monkeys about what's happening below the up-vote and payout boxes!
Good luck to you, plenty of the people who are involved are super engaging - a lot in the top 200 list i did the other day, :)