Calasiao eSports player joins SEA Games 2019
A 24-year-old athlete from Calasiao town is set to represent the Philippines in the eSportsevent in the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) come November 30.
Kyle Jefferson Padlan is a member of the seven-man SIBOL team Philippine eSportsTeam, that will play the Arena of Valor (AoV).
Padlan is set to take the role of Dark Slayer (DS) Lane, also called the solo/side lane.
Born and raised in Calasiao, presently working as a network engineer in Metro Manila, Padlan started playing eSportsfor the past two years. He said that he has participated in a lot of tournaments since his days in Bren eSports(a PH-based Southeast Asian professional eSportsteam) – most notably garnering 4th place in the Valor Cup Road To AoV World Cup.
A graduate of Creative Montessori Center and Francisco Q. Duque Medical Foundation Special Science High School, and Saint Louis University in Baguio City in college, he has expressed his passion in video games since childhood.
“It was just my passion since I was a kid, I just liked playing games on every platform I get my hands on”, he said. It was this passion that drove him to play AoV – and eventually turned it into his sporting career.
Being drawn into AoV, he decided to play, and his current squad Oro-Digitos breezed through the qualifiers for Sibol AoV – making him eligible to take a shot at the SEA Games.
This year’s SEA Games will be the first time eSportswill be integrated as a medal sport.
Post SEA Games, win or lose, Padlan has decided to continue engaging in eSports– both for fun and as a career, while doing his job as a network engineer in Metro Manila.
To prepare for the Sea Games, the seven-man roster trains for eight grueling hours a day, analyzing hero picks and counter-picks, lane tactics, team strategies, and lane rotation.
Padlan shares the responsibility with his team in redefining video games and eSportsin the country, it still being frowned upon by other Filipinos, particularly seniors.
Padlan urged parents to support their children in whatever path they choose, eSportsincluded. He admitted being discouraged by his parents early on for the time he spent on video games but later supported him. Arena of Valor is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game played through the smartphone. Launched in the Philippines on 2017, AoV has grossed over USD 140 million outside China. (Ahikam Pasion)
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