By: Jan Marcus Montevirgen
RSG Philippines head coach Brian “Panda” Lim was a biomedical engineer who graduated from the United States and later set his future in coaching Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) players in the Philippines.
Being a coach was hard as you need to look at the players’ overall well-being, whether in physical, mental, or emotional form.
For him, knowing his players’ personalities is a crucial aspect of being a coach.
“When I first test a player, first I just generally ask what heroes he likes to use kase hindi ko pa siya kilala eh tapos I need to look at his personality tapos if he’a an introvert or extrovert, if he’s sociable or hindi, kapag iba yung attitude niya kapag in-game na or introvert outside the game,” said Coach Panda in an exclusive interview with Tiebreaker Times.
“At the same time, I need to look at his gaming instinct. For example, what kind of discharge you will make kapag in dire situations? At the same time, I also test yung talent, what kind of potential is in this player,” he continued.
These observations were the one thing he learned from his father, a famous scientist and immunologist.
“One of the confident things I learned, lalo na sa Father ko, is how to observe a person and get to know that person’s intuition,” shared the coach who is also a scientist himself having finished a degree in biomedical engineering in the United States.
Handling Stress
(C) MPL PH
Knowing a player’s instinct and intuition helps Panda during tryouts to identify players that fit his system in RSG.
The Korean-born coach also zooms into his players’ overall emotional status as part of keeping his team in line during tournaments.
He has a unique way of encouraging his players during high-stakes situations through words of encouragement that could calm his players.
“If they were facing emotional distress during the tournament, which is a worst-case scenario, then I need to remind them that it is not over pa. It’s not done until it’s over.”
Even during scrimmages, there is no difference.
“Pero if it happens during the scrims, siyempre I would just pause the game and I will have a talk with that player 1 on 1. This happens many times sa mga players who face emotional distress and sometimes kapag hindi nila kaya dahil sa problema then I will sub them out. Kahit i-cancel yung scrim to reset tapos usap-usap then chill,” he said.
“Walang kwenta talaga yung practice kapag kahit yung isang player hindi ready yung sariling mindset niya or mentality. So I really care for the welfare of the players before I commit to the practice,” said the 31-year-old coach.
Through his years of coaching MLBB, Panda has developed his own metrics on how to identify really outstanding professional players.
What is a Good Player?
(c) MPL PH
According to Panda, a good player can act professionally without the coach’s help and micromanage his activities before the game.
“If a player is bad yung performance niya, kaya niya mag-reset sa sarili niya kahit without the coach’s help. Tapos kahit mainis siya sa kakampi niya, parang hindi niya i-express yung negative emotion niya agad agad tulad ng mga mura,” he said.
“Most of the players who know how to micromanage their schedule like ayaw nila magpuyat before may laban because they want to do this, do that.”
He admits, however, that he has only seen a few players that meet this standard. It is for this reason that is why he continues to remain as a father figure to his players.
“There are not that many players who can have that category. So again, I need to babysit them again, as a father, [I will monitor them by always saying] ‘Sleep na. Kain na'”.
With his way of coaching, it is no surprise the RSG Philippnes has already won two international championships and has not missed the top four in the MPL Philippines since Season 9.
