Losing is tough.
Losing, knowing that it’s all your fault, knowing that you let the team down, and knowing that you’re the reason why your teammates and coaches will head home with their heads bowed down is tougher. But the toughest kind of loss is the one where you know you didn’t do anything wrong.
Imagine going through all that in just a span of an hour, because that’s exactly what RSG PH went through (or so we thought) last Saturday.
The Raiders, who were set to go up against a struggling Minana EVOS squad, entered the Shooting Gallery Studios holding onto the hope that they would leave the venue already assured of a spot in the MPL Philippines Season 12 playoffs.
After surprisingly losing the opening game, RSG PH was poised for a bounce-back performance in Game 2, but a blunder made by jungler John “1rrad” Tuason during the drafting phase left everyone inside the arena in shock.
“What happened is that si 1rrad biglang na-pick yung Aldous because he was cleaning his screen because it was dirty,” said coach Brian “Panda” Lim, who asked members of the press to excuse 1rrad, who was the lone player requested to be part of the post-match press conference.
“He was using his hand warmer to clean it a bit and then it just clicked right away. That’s it, disaster happens,” he added.
(c) MPL PH
A mishap like this is what breaks teams. It creates fissures in their relationship so profound that they cause the team’s unity and performance to suffer.
But interestingly enough, that was not the case for RSG PH.
Shortly after the unfortunate incident, Coach Panda was already preparing a motivational speech in his mind to motivate his group of teenagers and 20-somethings to push through, but it turns out, he doesn’t really need to.
The group of teenagers and 20-somethings showed maturity beyond their years, suggesting numerous ways to take advantage of the non-meta hero while also cheering up 1rrad and telling him that everything is going to be fine.
“This is really important lalo after you lose a game. The worst thing that can happen is a toxic environment because that toxic environment is like cancer. It spreads, it grows, and when it spreads and grows and it’s all over na, it’s too late because you cannot treat that kind of toxicity. It’s very important that they have a positive mindset and lalo encouraging a player kasi tao ka rin eh, people make mistakes,” said Panda.
“Even before I [got the chance] to [tell] the players ‘it’s really 1rrad’s fault but let’s just move on,’ before I started [saying it] they were already saying ‘hindi 1rrad okay lang yun, bawi na lang next game’ so we already did not waste any more time trying to recover or me thinking about what kind of motivational speech I would say to the team para hindi sila mag-go down regarding what happened,” he continued.
“So I really want to applaud the character that they showed last night kay 1rrad.”
1rrad, who was very emotional right after the loss, expressed his utmost gratitude to his teammates for their heartfelt act even though it put a massive dent in their playoff dreams.
Heading into their final match of the week against defending champion ECHO, which is seeking to extend its historic winning streak to 12 games – the most in MPL PH history on Sunday, 1rrad was laser-focused on repaying his teammates’ gesture by gifting them a win.
And that he did.
1rrad put up a one-of-a-kind performance and spearheaded RSG PH’s massive 2-0 win to become the first team this season to topple down the Orcas.
(c) MPL PH
“Yung sa nangyari kahapon una kong naramdaman ano, nadisappoint ako sa sarili ko saka hiyang hiya ako sa mga kakampi ko pero nung nalaman kong okay naman sila, chini-cheer pa nila ako saka pinagtitripan pa, ayun, gumaan naman pakiramdam ko,” said the 20-year-old jungler.
“Narealize ko na okay lang, babawi na lang ako bukas saka yun nga, thank you rin kay coach Panda kasi binigyan niya ako ng [opportunity] para bumawi,” he continued.
“Sa mga teammates ko naman, thankful pa rin ako sa kanila kasi yung pagchi-cheer up nila… nung natalo kami pinost nila yung Aldous na picture, lahat sila isa-isa. Tapos sa bootcamp nung pinagusapan naming lahat, ayun nakakatuwa kasi wala ‘man lang blame akong natanggap sa kanila.”
The Raiders’ relationship, as well as their championship aspirations, were put to the test on that fateful night.
And they sure as hell passed it with flying colors.
If and when RSG PH wins the MPL Philippines Season 12 championship, they can surely look back at this moment and confidently say that it was all for the better.
