"If Xiao Fat can operate it, let him operate, if he can't operate it, I will 'scold' him again." The words made by Chongqing Wolves runner Yang Fan (ID: Fanfan) in a post-match interview amused the audience and subverted many people's stereotypes of him. Compared with other positions, it is difficult for runners to play extreme highlight operations, and they have become easily overlooked characters who always escort their teammates. Yang Fan also faced such a dilemma.
He also resisted from "switching" from youth training, but now, as the head of the team, he has been able to skillfully balance personal operation and overall control, and he has become more and more handy in cooperating with teammates. When asked what he thought about the mismatch between the responsibility of the wanderers and the attention they received, the young man looked calm, "I don't care about this, I don't care so much about the evaluation of the outside world." ”
As the main commander of the team, Fan Fan has been able to skillfully balance personal operation and overall control. Photo: Chongqing Wolves
Career path: Transformed from wild to wandering chief conductor
2023 KPL (King of Glory Pro League) Spring Regular Season First Round, Format Adjustment. Last season's teams in Groups S, A and B broke through the group restrictions and faced each other fiercely under the new version. The teams did not give in to each other, and the situation was unpredictable. In the bloodshed, Wolves won all four games to advance first, becoming the first of 18 teams to confirm their entry into Group S.
After the third victory over Changsha TES.A, Wolves Development Road player Zhong Lotian (ID: Demon Dao) said: "(The team's good condition) is first reflected in our team's brain sail, every day the thinking is very clear, and the opposite side is 'pinched'. "The demon knife, which has always been good at "Duanshui", does not have a bowl of water this time. As the leader of the team, Yang Fan is indeed a key part of the team's victory.
When he first entered QGhappy (now Chongqing Wolves), Yang Fan, who was still a youth player, was strongly persuaded by his coach to transform from playing wild to swimming, "I was unwilling at that time, and later Lao Yang (Wan Xiaoyang, ID: Lao YANG) and the youth coach kept persuading me to try it. ”
Although reluctantly, Yang Fan obediently switched positions. Compared with the "wild king" who is easy to show off the operation, it is often difficult for the wandering players who are easily ignored to gain popularity and attention, "I don't care about this, I don't care so much about the evaluation of the outside world." "Be willing to make green leaves for the victory of the team. This sentence never came out of Yang Fan's mouth, but he did it.
Yang Fan has never put down the command banner he has carried since the youth training, joining the first team, and he continues to play the same role. In his impression, it was a natural thing, there was no specific event or time, "it felt like this all the time." ”
Yang Fan has never put down the command banner he has carried since the youth training, joining the first team, and he continues to play the same role. Photo: Chongqing Wolves
In the spring of 2021, the team lineup was adjusted, and Yang Fan and others were transferred to the second team and sat on the bench. Among the KPL audience, there was a saying: the lights on the bench were too dim. At that time, Yang Fan had a deep understanding of this sentence. At the time, he only had to play more peak games to keep fit. If you really don't have a chance to play, go to the K League (King of Glory Professional League), he thought to himself.
After the first round of the regular season, QGhappy dropped into Group B. The training team rotated the main team during the break, and Yang Fan and others regained the opportunity to play. On stage again, they are in full swing and win all the way, "I don't want to lose this starting opportunity again." Yang Fan's tone was firm.
In the 2021 KPL Fall Game, 2022 Spring and Summer Games, Yang Fan ranked in the top five in the league in total assists for three consecutive seasons. Two titles in three years, this is what he achieved with his teammates in the KPL after entering the first team. Speaking of the "secret" of taking into account individual operation and team command, the young man admitted that without him, it is to talk more. "Express your thoughts and let your teammates know, it's that simple."
Brotherhood: Become teammates with idol Fly
Whether it is during the game or in the replay after the game, it is not right for the person; Once you become aware of your teammate's problem, speak it directly with the aim of correcting the problem instead of blaming the other person. This is the consensus that Yang Fan reached with his teammates a long time ago.
The Wolves' starting five have been partners for several seasons. Among them, there are Peng Yunfei (ID: Fly), a veteran who was once regarded as an idol by Yang Fan and has extremely rich experience in the arena, as well as Li Daheng (ID: Xiaofat), the "wild king" who entered the club at the same time as him and is still like a child in his eyes, Cai Youqi (ID: Xiangyu), a "more naughty" midfielder, and Zhong Letian, a "mature mind" development road "bully".
Yang Fan still remembers the scene when he first came to the base and saw Peng Yunfei. At that time, Peng Yunfei had already won cups with the team many times, and was the "Flying Bull General" who had won multiple finals MVPs, "The first time I saw Fly and Sting (Xia Shengqin), I thought, wow, they are in the same base with us." Looking at the feeling of the idol, I am embarrassed to say hello. ”
Having just stepped into the professional e-sports "novice village", Yang Fan did not think that this embarrassed person to say hello would later become one of his closest comrades-in-arms. During the days of the second team, they supported each other and encouraged each other. After returning to the start, many nights after the training matches, everyone would gather in the "idol" room to review and chat together.
The starting five did not live together, but were spread out in four dormitories: one for Peng Yunfei and Cai Youqi, one for Zhong Lotian and analysts, and one for Li Daheng alone. After the team's original wilderness player Xu Xiangyu (ID: 今宇) transferred and left, Yang Fan's roommate was replaced by a newcomer Tano Chen Jiahao (ID: Zhongyi). The room of the "middle and upper" group was a place they frequented, and "if we had any questions, five people would sit in Fly's room that night and talk." ”
Yang Fan commented that the tacit understanding of the five people has now reached 100%. This familiarity made him more and more comfortable in commanding. Photo: Chongqing Wolves
During the rookie period, Yang Fan's biggest advantage in self-evaluation was that he could remain calm on the field. Today, he believes that remains the same. To say that the biggest growth and progress in recent years, mainly because the mentality is getting better and better, and the cooperation with teammates is becoming more and more tacit, Yang Fan gave an example: "For example, if I lost the training match before, everyone had nothing to say, and they were relatively silent. Now it's not so restrained, and the (problem) that should be said is just that. ”
Yang Fan commented that the tacit understanding of the five people has now reached 100%. This familiarity made him more and more comfortable in commanding. "When they have an idea, I will be tougher or repeat [the instruction] twice." Although the battle situation in the arena is always fierce, in Yang Fan's impression, several people rarely argue in the game, "Maybe after the fight." ”
Contrast: Playing professionally is the most rebellious thing I've ever done
Tall and unhurried, many people often use words such as "honest and steady", "down-to-earth and simple" and "silent" when describing their first impression of Yang Fan. When you touch it, you will find that he is a person with a soft heart and a lot of ideas.
Teammate Zhong Lotte has repeatedly called him the team's "strongest brain", and fans have also said that he has a "cunning sense of stupidity" in him. Hearing such a description, the young man couldn't help but laugh, "(I) may look a little dull on the outside, but I must be very smart on the inside." ”
Speaking of Yang Fan, Peng Yunfei commented that as the main commander of the team, he is always very resolute in the arena, but he is a warm man in daily life. Accustomed to protecting his teammates in the canyon, in the real world, Yang Fan is also very warm. He said "everyone is an adult and doesn't need to be taken care of", but he remembered that his teammates loved coffee to refresh themselves and would specially buy American style in the service area.
Giving and warmth are mutual. Yang Fan admits that his personality has also changed a lot in recent years under the leadership of his teammates. From the very beginning of "social fear", to now when taking a taxi, I will take the initiative to chat with the driver.
This "extroversion" even allowed Yang Fan's social circle to expand to stray cats. In the park where the Wolf Team base is located, there are many stray cats, two of which are Yang Fan's "acquaintances", as soon as he appears, the two kittens will be extremely affectionately entangled at his feet. Yang Fan has two puppies, one named Dudu and the other named Nuomi. "I didn't want to buy a second one, but I felt that glutinous rice was too lonely, so I found a companion for it."
Yang Fan has two puppies, one named Dudu and the other named Nuomi. Photo: Chongqing Wolves
In the process of communicating with Yang Fan, you will feel that he is very much like a "child of other people's families", obedient, steady and loving. However, early last year, he also did something "rebellious": dyed his hair silvery-white, "thinking that color was pretty cool." "The young man thought that his cool hair color was not surprisingly approved by his mother," she said that old people only have white hair, you young man, how to get white hair! Yang Fan imitated his mother's tone, and smiled sarcastically after speaking.
In Yang Fan's eyes, dyeing his hair is not a real rebellion, "[The most rebellious thing I have ever done] should be to come out to fight professionally, because my family was very reluctant at that time and did not want me to come out." "Similar to the experience of many esports players, when they first decided to become professional, their parents also raised objections. In recent years, under Yang Fan's insistence, his family's view of him and the e-sports industry has changed a lot, "When I first came on, they didn't pay much attention, and after winning the (World Championship Cup) championship, basically every time they played a match, they would cheer me on before the game." Yang Fan said.
In this spring, Yang Fan and his teammates still aim to at least reach the finals. After the first round of the regular season, they did not rest, and still prepared for the game training step by step. For Wolves, a move into Group S is just the first step towards the top of the mountain. During this year's transfer period, the team brought in Li Ziwei (ID: Yisheng) from Nanjing Hero Jiujing to strengthen the position. When asked if he would feel pressure due to the competition within the team, Yang Fan still said unhurriedly: "Just like before, let's do yourself first." ”
Beijing News reporter Zhao Xue
Edited by Wu Zhengyang
Proofreader Zhao Lin