Irrad: “I Thought So Highly of Myself, Only to Realize I Was at the Very Bottom”
In the wake of RSG’s shocking elimination in the regular season’s running for the playoffs, jungler prodigy John Darry Tuazon, aka Irrad, has a few realizations he realized too late.
Speaking to ALL-STAR, Irrad reveals he had very high expectations of his team.
“Syempre, masakit kasi hindi ko rin ineexpect na hanggang dito lang yung maaachieve namin, kasi yung tingin ko rin sa team ko, una pa lang, is talagang kaya namin mag champion,” said Irrad.
ALSO READ:
“Una pa lang, ang taas na ng expectation ko. And galing din ako sa parang ganitong scenario rin noong nasa RRQ Hoshi ako. Sobrang hirap din. Na-experience namin yung struggle. Ngayon lang namin na-experience sa RSG yung nag-struggle kami ng ganoon katagal hanggang hindi na kami makapag bounce back, hindi na kami makapasok ng playoffs.”
(Of course, it’s painful, I did not expect we’d fall short because I see ourselves as someone who can win the championship. My expectations were so high in the beginning. I came from a similar situation when I was in RRQ Hoshi, that was difficult. We experienced the struggle that RSG is experiencing now for the first time. We struggled for so long until we couldn’t bounce back, we couldn’t make it to the playoffs.)
“Gaya din ng sabi ni Coach Panda, deserve din naman namin ito, not in a bad way, because masyado kaming maraming pagkukulang, and marami kaming ginagawang paraan para maayos yung team namin pero sobrang hirap talaga.”
(Like what Coach Panda said, we deserve to not make it to the playoffs, not in a bad way, because we had so many shortcomings, and we tried many ways to fix our team but it was so difficult.)

ALL-STAR asked Irrad, who was once dubbed as the next Kairi of the Philippines, about the most valuable lesson he learned in MPL Philippines Season 14.
“Yung pinaka natutuhan ko sa Season na ito is kailangan ko…” (The greatest lesson I learned this season is I need to…)
Irrad pauses for thirty seconds.
“Sa totoo lang, naging mataas ang tingin ko sa sarili ko hanggang sa hindi ko na napapansin na may mga players na nagpa-practice para mas lumakas sila, and yung naging resulta is ang taas ng tingin ko sa sarili ko pero sa huli ko na narealize na ako na pala yung nasa pinakababa. Kailangan higitan ko yung mga ginagawa ko dati, and based on my experience, kailangan ko na lang maging mas maturedpa para hindi ako maging komportable. Kailangan ko pa i-pressure ang sarili ko para habang tumatagal ay mas maging okay ang mga ginagawa ko.”
(To be honest… my ego was so inflated that I failed to notice how other players were practicing more to improve. I thought so highly of myself, only to realize I was at the very bottom. I need to do better than what I did before, and based on my experience, I need to become mature and get out of my comfort zone. I need to put pressure on myself so I can improve in the long run.)
