ADK — Player, Coach…. and Counsellor?

ADK was a former player now temporary coach for Rooster at ESL Challenger Melbourne. Initially, I wanted to talk about his stuff outside the server which would be the World Cup. However, that was an elaborate troll and it worked (obviously).

Now for the obvious question, everybody wants to know why he was on crutches. It turns out he hurt his ankle while playing Basketball. We’re unsure whether it was after schooling someone in a 1v1 but we know it happened.

We discussed why he retired. He simply said that his heart wasn’t in it and it would be detrimental to his boys (teammates). He returned as a coach to help them further for ESL Challenger Melbourne. They had also organised a system for calling timeouts where he would tap one of the players on the shoulder to call one. It was a system that was implemented by Rooster themselves.

We discussed JHD and he mentioned that JHD is a great entertainer. He said that he is more suited to be a Social Media Manager rather than a coach. He says JHD’s heart is definitely in the right place for Rooster.

ADK had been banned for 12 months initially by ESIC in October 2020 due to a betting violation. This was extended to 24 months later on in January 2021. The violation was that he had betted on himself to win which was a 2 year ban with ESIC.

He used the initial year break to finish his studies in becoming a counsellor. He asked whether I was surprised about it. I mentioned that I was surprised that he was becoming a counsellor but not surprised that he wasn’t as bad as everyone said. I had mentioned that all of Rooster’s incidents were inside of the server rather than outside of the server.

We discussed his amazing plays at ESL Pro League with Rooster. I was honsetly surprised that ADK considered this point to be his lowest of his career. ADK mentioned that his interest in CS was at all time low and he was doing all of this for his teammates. He said that they had been loyal to him and he wished to show the same to them.

He was disappointed on how it ended up but was thankful for the opportunity. He mentioned that one of the best teams that they had scrimmed against was Virtus Pro. The main reason for this was that Virtus Pro were very regimented and every single grenade thrown and movement had a lot of through behind it. They learnt a lot from Virtus Pro and from Jame’s Ingame Leading Style.

He mentioned that his teammates were a loyal group. They had been through heaven and hell together hence why he came back as a coach. He isn’t sure whether it’ll be permanent or temporary but he would see where it would take him.

He was sad to see Rackem quit but was happy to see Danger back in the roster. I had mentioned that Rackem was a secondary awper but rifled quite well. However, Danger was more of an upgrade due to his clutch factor (and not to mention was the #2 clutch for ESL Challenger Melbourne).

I had to quickly leave to interview Styko but wished ADK all the best. I think ADK has a very bright future ahead of him whether he goes into coaching or into counselling. He is a different person outside of the server compared to being in the server.

However, he provides a crucial insight on how strong the bonds are between the Rooster boys. I think Rooster embodies the importance of trust and hard work within a team itself. With a great coach which could be ADK, Rooster might be able to reach the stars!