- Poised lost most of the feeling in his hand due to an accident five years ago
- Only his current and former teammates knew about the injury
- This has shaped the player’s career in VALORANT
FaZe’s Kevin “poised” Ngo had been struggling with a severe hand injury over the past five years that made him lose the sense of feeling in his hand, but pressed on with his career despite that.
Poised Revealed his Secret
Athletes obviously need to be in peak physical condition to perform well on the field, and injuries or chronic illnesses can severely impact that. Esports players are not as susceptible to such problems, as say traditional sports athletes, but hand and wrist injuries can spell doom for an esports player’s career.
Recently, FaZe Clan’s VALORANT IGL Kevin “poised” Ngo revealed that he’d been dealing with severe numbness in his fingers and palm during the past five years. Like many other games, VALORANT requires quick reflexes and manual dexterity. In a recent Tweetlonger, the 25-year-old player explained his journey in esports while dealing with the injury.
The player explained that five years ago he went through an accident that cut open “every single muscle, and nerve” in his forearm connecting to his hand. He said that after that he could not feel a single thing from his hand up to his elbow and that doctors told him he may not be able to regain feeling in his palm and fingers ever again.
Poised Pressed on Despite Injury
Despite the serious injury and the negative prognosis the physicians gave, poised did not give up on his dream of being a professional esports player. However, having limited feeling in his hand, he had to develop other strategies for playing. “I realized that I can still play, but now have to trust what I see, and use spatial cognitive ability/senses to even press down my keys. Anyone who plays a high level of VALORANT or CSGO understands that even 1 millisecond of hesitation means your death, one mis-click or mis-input can cost an entire round or game even,” the player said.
This injury has steered poised’s career in VALORANT. He admitted that he picked up IGLing to make up for his injury and still managed to make a career for himself. His stay in FaZe has been a series of close calls. Since he took the helm of FaZe’s VALORANT roster, the squad has placed third in the Champions Tour North America: Last Chance Qualifier. Last year, the team managed to almost qualify for VALORANT Champions, but their plans were thwarted by The Guard.
Despite that, poised ended his Twitlonger with an uplifting message to never give up on things you like and announced that “FaZe is coming to win Ascension”.
