Spark Player Explains That Hangzhou’s 2019 Season Was A “Miracle” In Recent Interview

Disclaimer: With the interview written originally in Korean, the author has had to rely on software to translate the article. If any information seems incorrect or is mistranslated, please feel free to email Jordan Garcia at [email protected]. (The original article will be linked below)

In a recent interview with Korean esports publication Daily esports, staff reporter Kim Hyun-yu sat down with Spark Support player Ho-jin “iDK” Park to give some retrospective on his career and the 2019 season. The interview also gives fans some insight on where the team’s current aspirations are after having an unfortunately quiet start to the season.

‘현실 루시우’ 항저우 ‘iDK’ 박호진 “좋은 영향력 주는 선수 되고파” https://t.co/31DxHQ9hVP pic.twitter.com/n4JjlO9TpL

— 데일리e스포츠 (@daily_e_sports) February 28, 2020

Positivity & Nerves

Hyun-yu starts the player profile by speaking with iDK about his upbringing and the style of player that he is. iDK explains that going forward: he wants to be a good person on top of being a good player. The Overwatch League has had its share of outwardly positive players like Pongphop “Mickie” Rattanasangchod and Scott “Custa” Kennedy. In which, both players have won the league’s Dennis Hawelka Award for their positivity. Having that uplifting influence can help a team prosper, and it seems that iDK wants to be that teammate.

The interview continues with iDK talking about his experiences with his start in pro Overwatch with APEX team Afreeca Freecs and his journey to making it to the OWL. iDK explains that once he made it to the Overwatch League, nerves started to set in for the first time in his career.

“…I’ve never been nervous when I was playing [before], but I was nervous and trembling…” iDK says.

Image via OGN

First OWL Experiences

With this being said, iDK states that the team’s failures as a unit during Stage 1 last season were due to “lack of experience”. But Hyun-yu explains that iDK and the rest of Hangzhou worked hard to turn it around for Stage 2.

iDK tried to describe his feelings during the first few stages of OWL 2019 as this: “If you do not have enough experience, you will try to do more on stage, if you do not have enough time to practice, you will have to practice more games…”

Image via Ben Pursell For Blizzard Entertainment

He then goes on to state that he thinks the team’s 4th place finish last season was a “miracle” after some shaky moments.

“There was a lot of comments that there was no star player in Hangzhou at the time. But when we broke it and finished fourth, I thought it was a miracle.” iDK explains.

The Spark’s 2020 Goals

Going into the 2020 season, iDK states later in the article that his team wants to do even better this season and place “better than fourth”. Hyun-yu describes it as the team being in a championship-winning scenario after a strong performance last season.

iDK then goes on to say that if they have had an entire season of experience that led to fourth place, “I think [we] can win this season.”

Image via Kim Hyun-yu for Daily esports

An insight that most fans don’t get with their favourite players is their personal goals for the season. Luckily, Hyun-yu explains that iDK showed him his personal goals for this season which were written on his phone.

The message lists:

1. Win [the] league
2. Lead your team more
3. Be a good, error-free player.

In the end, it seems that iDK wants to be a player who can bring positive energy to his teammates and motivate them to be even better than last year’s team. If Hangzhou wants to surpass their 2019 record, then having one of the league’s Support Role Stars as their leader is a good start.

Fans can read the original article here.

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Featured Image Courtesy of Hangzhou Spark

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