A wise head once said that time is relative. Nowhere else is this more evident than in the esports industry: while someone in their mid-twenties would be in their prime in any other discipline, they are already old hands in the world of competitive gaming. At the same time, professional esports careers often begin earlier than in traditional sports. Real-time strategy luminaries like Lee ‘Flash’ Young-ho and Cho ‘Maru’ Seong-ju first appeared in live matches on South Korean television at the ages of 14 and 13, respectively – by the time they turned 25, they already had over ten years of professional experience.
What that does to the body is clearly evident from the surgery scars many pro gamers bear on their wrists, pictures in hospital beds, and forum posts in which fans wish their heroes a speedy recovery. Or videos like this one, in which Byun ‘ByuN’ Hyun-woo has to pause a game of StarCraft 2 on live TV to get his wrist, which is twitching with pain, back under control.
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With 25 years, Dillon ‘Attach’ Price belongs to this group – he is the fourth oldest professional in the Call of Duty League (CDL). The U.S. native has had many successes in his career, including winning the World Championship in 2015. Despite his ‘old’ age, ‘Attach’ still holds his own at the top: in 2021, he won a CDL Major with his team Minnesota RØKKR and finished fourth overall in the season. In that span, he’s seen colleagues rise and fall. ‘Attach’, though, keeps scoring kills.
What is the key to such a long-lasting career at the top of his sport? For him, it’s largely his disciplined approach to a healthy daily routine, he tells GLHF – something he’s internalized since he was a young baseball player. “Growing up I played sports as well as games like Call of Duty, so sports and physical exercise have always been a big part of my life”, he says. When he improved in Call of Duty and saw an opportunity to make it as a pro, he had to make a choice: “When I was about 16 or 17, I decided to focus on Call of Duty. Up to that point, I was super busy with baseball, traveling to and from games and tournaments on the weekends. When I decided to focus on Call of Duty, I had to take my weekends and free time back. But that didn’t change how I approached my health.”
This steely determination to balance a healthy life with his career is one of his trademarks – and has positively shaped his career, he says: “I don’t feel like myself and I’m not at my best in general unless I am regularly working out, eating well and getting quality sleep. As pro players, we work in a very high-stress environment with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line and millions of people watching. So, I’ve intentionally remained committed to keeping my overall health top of mind and it’s served me well.”
Throughout his career, the RØKKR player has held on to that mindset while also seeing the positive developments in his scene when it comes to promoting a healthier lifestyle among pro gamers. “Something that has changed in the professional scene overall since I started playing is that teams have started to offer resources to players and coaches. Minnesota RØKKR organized a personal trainer for our team from Training Haus, and we have scheduled workouts with him four days a week,” reports ‘Attach’. “I’m not sure if the franchising made a direct impact, but as the esport formalizes, I think you’re seeing orgs realize how player health can be a competitive advantage. It’s not unlike traditional sports.”
That comparison goes further – after all, a certain balance is also required for athletes in other fields. “As professionals, we spend hours a day practicing and watching VOD, not to mention playing the game or streaming in the evening and after official team activities. If a player isn’t proactively balancing all the time sitting and in front of a screen with exercise, a sleep routine and healthy diet, they’ll be at a disadvantage.”
However, he says, this is not currently standard practice for everyone in the field: “It’s becoming more normalized to prioritize health, but at this stage, it’s not super common for pro players to have a regimen that includes working out with a trainer or even maintaining a dedicated workout routine or healthy diet.” So while things are improving and teams like Minnesota RØKKR provide their players with important resources, there is a lot of room for improvement overall.
The focus of his own fitness training is primarily on weightlifting and cardio workouts. For ‘Attach’, weightlifting to build and maintain body strength is the most important exercise a gamer needs to do: “We all sit down all day for our jobs. It’s important to counteract that.”
On days without strength training, ‘Attach’ relies on jumping rope or jogging, and “there’s almost not a day that goes by that I don’t go for a walk.”
He cites professional boxer Floyd Mayweather and MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov as two athletes whose self-discipline and work ethic he has taken to heart.
His team has also provided access to a performance coach, because it’s not just the body that erodes under the day-to-day exertion of the pros: “Our Adamas coach has helped me with everything from warming up my body and my mind on game days to winding down mentally after matches. They’ve also been helpful from the team building aspect, helping us make the most of the time we have together. It’s pretty intense what we do for a living, and there’s only 48 players in the world that are competing at the professional level we are. We each, individually, always have to be on top of our game and I’ve learned a lot from Adamas about staying focused when we know we have to play in front of a crowd and also respecting how your teammates prepare and lock in on match days.”
Especially these days, ‘Attach’ greatly values the lessons in team building, because he has been given three fresh teammates for the coming season: Three Brits, Marcus ‘Afro’ Reid, Benjamin ‘Bance’ Bance and Cameron ‘Cammy’ McKilligan have been signed for RØKKR’s upcoming CDL campaign. “Before this season, I’d never played with any of these guys, so living in the same place has been big for us. It’s helped us get to know each other in-game and in real life away from work.” For him, working out together in the morning is the perfect prelude to in-game training. Traveling to events always means an interruption in their daily routine that needs to be managed. But thanks to the ever-present fitness facilities in hotels these days, that’s not a problem.
What does this disciplined daily routine look like during the CDL season, then? “During the CDL season, I typically get up around 9:00 a.m. and have a light breakfast – always pasture-raised eggs and maybe some fruit. Then I hit the gym. I lift weights four times each week and on days when I don’t lift, I do some type of cardio like go for a run or jump rope. Then we have lunch and go to practice at about noon. We typically practice and run scrims for six or seven hours, then break to watch some films back as a team. From there, I’ll usually go for a walk then head home for dinner. Depending on the day, sometimes I’ll throw up the stream and play more Call of Duty, or I’m studying film from previous matches or from our scrims to improve my game knowledge and get ready for the next day. Then it’s bedtime. I get at least eight hours of sleep every night. Sleep is just as important to me as eating healthy and working out.”
Aside from interrupting schedules, events always bring another factor into play: crowds. After such a long career, does ‘Attach’ still get nervous going into a game on stage? “I do get nervous,” he responds, “but, I’ve been doing this for so long I know when I get nervous before a match, it means I’m going to go out there and do my thing and play well. And I know that when I get nervous, I really care about what I’m about to do. Nerves are a good thing. That means I’m about to unlock another competitive level.”
His strategy is to focus on his preparation: If a well-laid plan is in place for the match ahead, his confidence will carry him through.
The mental stress doesn’t stop there in Call of Duty, however – the scene has a unique rhythm in esports, because with the annual releases of first-person shooter series, the discipline in which the pro player and his colleagues have to compete also changes. For him, Modern Warfare 2 (2022) is the tenth title he’s played competitively. How stressful is it to have to learn a new game every year that might not suit your strengths at all?
“Not having insight into how a game is designed and built from year-to-year can be stressful. In professional Call of Duty, we’ve seen teams who were really good at one game, come into a new season and not be as good at the next. I do what’s in my control to counter that: practice and watch as much video as possible and watch other people play so I can get as much data from that to implement into my game. You have to put the time into the game, but if you know what to do in certain situations, you’ll find success.”
Game knowledge and strategic positioning, he says, are the constant key criteria in Call of Duty: “When you’re in the better position on the map, you usually win; you’ll usually get the kill.”
‘Attach’ is a shrewd strategist not only in the game – his attitude towards his health is just one aspect of his life that proves this. He also thinks long-term when it comes to his brand. At a time when scandals and toxic behavior rule social media, the progamer is a clean-cut man who avoids any online faux pas. “I plan to have a long career in esports and entertainment and I know how important my personal brand is to achieve that,” he says. “Esports is still sort of on the come-up as a source for entertainment at least in the big picture. One day we as players will be under the microscope, so it’s a good idea to act accordingly now. Being toxic just isn’t who I am. I’m a positive person authentically so that’s what I’m going to be and do online and in real life.”
However, it’s not lost on him that the Call of Duty scene doesn’t cover itself in glory in this area: “The so-called toxicity of COD has in some ways become a part of the fabric of the esport, but when it comes to pros appearing to act ‘toxic’ to one another a lot of it is just for the entertainment factor.” Personally, the RØKKR player has good relationships with all his colleagues, he says, and “that’s what matters.”
For those who would also like to pursue a career as a progamer or content creator, ‘Attach’ would like to share that they should always keep a balance: “The reality is you will have to put in the hours whether that’s to master the game or to grow a community as a content creator. But you have to also keep your physical and mental health in mind. Having a routine that you stick to will go a long way, both right away and in the long-term as well. Find something healthy you like to do, whether it’s lifting weights, swimming, or running and stick to it. Commit to it.”
One word that usually comes up in this context is passion. ‘Attach’ also emphasizes: “Consistency is key when it comes to growing a brand, and it’s a grind. You have to be passionate about playing the game, or streaming every day and shooting, editing and publishing regular videos and content. If you don’t truly have a passion for it, it’s going to be hard to stay in the grind. But if it’s what you want to do, believe in yourself and put in the work to honor that passion and you’ll see results.”
Perhaps passion, along with his iron self-discipline, is the key to his own long and successful career – because when he talks about playing the upcoming season with his colleagues, his unwavering passion for almost jumps out of the screen: “What’s standing out about MWII so far is the personality of my teammates, ‘Cammy’, ‘Bance’, and ‘Afro’. They like to have a good time, and they genuinely love to play COD. We’ve gotten into a routine watching VOD and talking and strategizing about how to improve in each aspect. What it comes down to is we’re just really happy and we all want to be here. We’ve been doing a lot of team dinners after practice and we’re really meshing well. I’m really looking forward to continuing to work with them and become the best team in the game. We can’t wait to compete.”
You can watch ‘Attach’, ‘Cammy’, ‘Bance’, and ‘Afro’ in action live on Twitch on December 2, 2022 during Minnesota RØKKR’s season opener in the CDL against OpTic Texas.
Written by Marco Wutz on behalf of GLHF.
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