All the risks Coach Tgee took are now paying off as Sibol Honor of Kings reaches Asian Games

As early as 2012, Gerald “Tgee” Gelacio knew esports was the path he wanted to take. But getting there was never easy at all with the risks he had to take.

That year, Tgee juggled esports and academics, playing professionally in League of Legends for Mineski while studying Electronics Computer Engineering at the Universidad de Manila, where he even made the Dean's List in his first year.

But as his career with Mineski began to take off following the team's qualification for the 2013 League of Legends World Championship in the United States (famously known as Worlds), Tgee was forced to make a difficult choice. To fully commit to his growing esports career, he put his academics on hold, although his parents were initially unsupportive.

"Actually that time hindi pa talaga maganda ‘yung esports compared today, 2012 ‘yun e. Nag-aaral di ako that time, sinabay ko siya. That time, casual lang laro ko and may nag-message lang sa akin from Mineski," Tgee told GMA News Online in an interview in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last Saturday.

"That time kasi nag-aaral pa lang ako and Dean’s Lister pa ako no’n kaso dumating ‘yung point na may mga qualifiers and nu’ng una kaya ko pang pagsabayain hanggang sa dumating sa point na hindi na kaya."

(Actually, at that time, esports wasn't as good as it is today. That was 2012. I was studying at the that time, I did them both together. I was just casual then and someone from Mineski reached out to me... I was studying and a Dean's Lister but there came the point where there were qualifiers and at first I could balance them both but at some point, that was no longer possible.)

Until 2019, he was in the LoL scene before making another leap in his career by transitioning to coaching.

Inspired by his mentor---Akarawat Mangsawat from Thailand---he started answering the call to coach in another esports title, Wild Rift. It was there that he called the shots for several clubs, including the local team Blacklist International.

Sharpened by the values he learned from Mangsawat, Tgee fully embraced his coaching career.

"Actually nu’ng una hindi ko rin siya (coaching) gusto, wala rin siya sa isip ko kasi gusto ko lang maglaro nang maglaro but nu’ng 2019 kasi parang bumaba na ‘yung peak game ko kasi tumatanda na so pina-try sa akin ng isa kong friend sa team namin na mag-coach and nagustuhan ko naman siya," Tgee recalled.

"Parang siya ‘yung naging mentor ko tapos doon ako natuto and hanggang sa nag-grow na lang din ‘yug career ko sa Pilipinas."

(At first, I didn't like it. It wasn't in my mind because all I wanted to do was to keep playing. But in 2019, the peak of my game kind of dropped and I was getting older, so I was given a chance by a friend to coach and I liked it then... He was my mentor and that's where I learned until my career grew here in the Philippines.)

Tgee is now the shot-caller for Blacklist, whose core is currently bannering the Sibol Pilipinas Honor of Kings national team that recently made waves in the Asian Games Qualifiers. Sibol won all but one of its games to book an outright ticket to the Asian Games main event.

And for Tgee, who witnessed the growth of esports in the country firsthand, seeing the sport reach the Asian Games stage serves as validation for years of hard work from everyone who helped build the industry.

"Sobrang laki na nang ginrow ng esports ngayon and na-witness ko ‘yun. Sabi ko nga sa mga players ko, sorang swerte niyo ngayon," he added.

"Actually sobrang nakaka-proud lang na nakapasok kami sa Asian Games kasi sobrang rare ng opportunity na ‘to. Ayoko rin talagang masayang talaga kaya going sa Asian Games main event, sobrang paghahandaan namin para makakuha tayo ng medal."

(Esports has grown so much and I was able to witness that. I told my players, you guys are so lucky now... Actually, I'm so proud that we were able to qualify for the Asian Games because this opportunity is so rare. I don't want to waste it so we will be preparing hard going to the Asian Games main event, so that we can earn a medal.)

—JMB, GMA News