Former Overwatch League pro-turned-farmer Daniel ‘Dafran’ Francesca explained how his dad molded him into a professional gamer after raging at a teammate on Twitch.
Dafran was having quite the brutal Overwatch match on King’s Row, partly because one of his teammates took the hero Echo – a character that the DPS legend had been practicing seriously.
After a brutal round on attack where his team failed to capture the first objective, Francesca told his Echo teammate that they made him “embarrassed to be Danish” and challenged the younger gamer to a one-on-one match.
The two agreed to settle their beef like men in the arena, with Dafran dominating the youngster – something that Francesca said he went through himself as a kid in Counter-Strike.
“Do you know how I got my competitive spirit?” Dafran asked his chat. “My dad used to f**k me in one-on-ones until I got so mad I cried.”
Parents being hard on their kids to help them improve is certainly nothing new, especially when it pertains to traditional sports. But for video games, it’s not something you hear about all that often.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“I literally cried anytime I lost. I was so mad at him,” he added. “But then when I started shooting him through walls and I became good at the game, my dad quit!”
According to Dafran, his dad would laugh after besting him in one-on-one matches, leaving Dafran feeling angry that his father just quit once he began catching up in skill.
“Absolute piece of sh*t,” the Danish DPS sensation blasted.
Considering the fact that Dafran would go on to become a top level player in multiple games, reaching the highest ranks in Valorant and Overwatch, it’s safe to say the unconventional training paid off.
It may not be as tragic of an origin story as Batman’s, Spider-Man’s, or as cool as Dr Disrespect’s, but it goes to show the parents can definitely have an effect on their children becoming elite competitors in video games.