Missing out on the inaugural season of the Overwatch League was a tough pill to swallow.

I’d set out on day one to secure my place in the Overwatch League – it was my goal, my dream.

At first, I was sad that I didn’t make it in, but after I came to terms with the missed opportunity, it only made me more motivated. I wanted to prove myself again, even more so than when I first started playing Overwatch.

I hated sitting on the sidelines, it felt horrible.

If anything, it hit me a little harder since I’d come so close to making the cut with eUnited. Being a part of the Overwatch League was something I had been working towards since I had loaded into my first ever game. Every aspiring esports pro knew about the league from very early on and it had been in the back of our minds constantly.

It was clear that things were going to come down to the wire.

I had heard whispers about the Overwatch League long before the first gameplay trailer was released. I knew right away that it was where I wanted to be.

Overwatch was going big and for the lucky few who reached the top, that’s where the best Overwatch was going to be played.

At the time, I was looking for a new game to play as school was starting up. I knew that if I dedicated myself to the game enough, I’d have a good shot at making it as a pro, especially since the game was brand new and everyone was starting on somewhat the same level.

Even then, I could never have imagined that competitive Overwatch would take me halfway around the world and help me build a following in foreign countries.

To think that nearly three years ago I was just competing in weekly online events, the progression of Overwatch, and my career within it, is just insane.

That constant surreal feeling is yet to wear off.

The ride continues to get progressively crazier. Each event I compete at, each match that I play in, it’s all so alluring.

The rush of setting up on stage and placing well at an event was exhilarating. I think some of my fondest memories come from Overwatch’s earliest events.

The Atlantic Showdown was my first LAN event and then the first time I’d meet my team, Reunited, in person. I learned a lot from them about playing on LAN and being a leader. While we didn’t win the event, it was an amazing time and a high point in my Overwatch career.

A few months after the Atlantic Showdown, my team and I were invited to South Korea to play in OGN’s Overwatch APEX Season 1. This is where things really started to change.

This is where I put myself out there and became a much bigger name in the Overwatch scene, especially in Korea.

I miss how naive I was back then. In a sense that I didn’t think it was possible for me to reach that level of notoriety – I wasn’t trying to go big in Korea or grow my stream, it just happened completely naturally.

I often think about what I’d be doing if not for Overwatch. I don’t really have an inspiring answer. I’d most likely have gone to University and honestly, after that, I’m not sure what I’d have done.

It’s hard to put it into words how much this new opportunity in the Overwatch League means to me. Reaching the goals you set years back, sitting alone in your bedroom staring at your computer, feels amazing.

It still hasn’t quite sunk in… I’m going to be a part of the Overwatch league.

It’s taken three long years, but I’ve finally made it.

The 2019 Overwatch League season is going to be an experience.

My goals are to make sure we always play as a team, inside and outside of the game – keeping everyone together and on the same page is very important to me.

With each of my past teams, we were always a family. It doesn’t matter what happens, win or lose, you always have your friends to fall back on and rely on. That’s what I hope to have in Paris and it’s already shaping up very well to be like that.

Being able to travel around the world and play against the best teams in the game is one thing., but chasing your passion, reaching your goals, and seeing it all become sustainable from all the hard work you’ve done is breathtaking.

It’s a feeling I hope everyone feels at some point because it’s that feeling that acts like a carrot on a stick. To know that you can put your mind to something and make it a reality is powerful.

To all those who read this hoping to achieve something similar; chase your dreams, but be smart in how you approach them. You’ll never realize how close you are to them until you truly put in the effort.

Image Credit: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment