During VCT Pacific Stage 1 regular season, Paper Rex released a voice comms video that left viewers scratching their heads.
Coach Alexandre “alecks” Sallé had uttered three words that stumped the Valorant community, including Pujan “FNS” Mehta who watched and reacted to the video on his livestream.
“Keep calm. Don’t over push. You’re playing great,” the Paper Rex coach told the team during a pause on Lotus.
“Don’t over push!” FNS laughed out loud. “You know who you’re freaking talking to? What is this guy saying, don’t over push? That’s freaking hilarious!”
ONE Esports spoke to alecks in an exclusive interview to get to the bottom of this peculiarity and find out more about what exactly goes on in his head when he’s in the coaching booth malding.
PRX alecks on why he hits desks, gets mad, and malds
We found out that there’s a few reasons why that clip exists in the highlight reel.
“Yeah, it’s a bit strange,” alecks replied to ONE Esports. “In these voice comms, we take out the technical instructions most of the time, so I don’t actually tell them to go crazy every time, you know. It’s only in certain situations.”
Because of this, these compilations usually come down to the video editor’s decision where their goal is to create good, funny content for fans while avoiding strategy leakage, especially if it reveals their thought processes in Valorant.
That said, one idea that’s been sitting on aleck’s mind is the possibility of enhancing in-person watch party experiences in Singapore and Indonesia by showing fans exclusive behind-the-scenes snippets during Paper Rex games.
This concept is similar to sports broadcasts where viewers occasionally get to overhear coaches giving instructions to the team during a break.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to guard everything. I also don’t mind if people learn. It gives me a chance to grow if everyone’s improving,” alecks elaborated. “If everyone’s improving, it forces me to get better, forces my team to get better. So it’s a two-way thing.”
Due to this limited perspective, the impression viewers get of alecks is that he’s just a roller coaster of emotions that keeps intensifying round after round, map after map.
Describing himself as a person who isn’t “very rigid”, he expresses emotions without “trying to play it down” or play it up either. “You know, I’m alone in the coach room, right? I don’t have an assistant coach. It’s me and myself in there. I’m just stuck here like a meme. I don’t mind. I’ve never gotten hate for it.”
“If people are happy, sure. I’m glad I can entertain. It’s not my number one priority. All I care about is the team doing well. Sometimes they just leave me exasperated. I don’t know what the hell is going on.” said alecks, who can’t seem to wrap his head around certain calls PRX players make in-game.
“We have certain rules. Then they just out throw them out the window and I lose my mind. What are we practicing for?” alecks related. “Sometimes I take a pause and I talk for a minute. The moment the pause ends, they do the opposite thing. Of course, anyone’s going to be crazy, right?”
This happens often because of Paper Rex’s culture — a team that not only functions, but thrives without a designated in-game leader. While alecks is officially their esports coach, he shared with ONE Esports in a previous interview that he sees himself more as a “life coach who also happens to be a Valorant coach.”
PRX are community-led, so even though he may give them advice, it doesn’t mean it’s the be-all and end-all. The team is constantly in discussion and adapting on a whim.
“It’s just that it can be funny that we can come to a common conclusion during the tech pause and then suddenly someone has a bright idea and then they throw the common conclusion out the window and we go with this instead,” alecks shared.
“And I don’t have a say anymore because the thing is, the time’s run out. So my job is done and I just have to watch the game.”
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