EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/photo/1249729385_1.jpg)
KINGS OF PROLEAGUE
SKT1's coaching staff: "We won because of everyone's hard effort."
"It is because of our hardworking players that SKT1 exists today as it is."
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/interview/1249746604_1.jpg)
"It is because of our hardworking players that SKT1 exists today as it is."
- Your thoughts on winning the Grand Finals after 3 years?
▲ Coach Park Yong Oon: After we sealed our victory, many thoughts came into my mind. We were able to win because of the sacrifices of many players who were with us for a long time, but aren't here today. It's quite saddening that they aren't here with us together today. If we did not have those players, SK Telecom T1 probably would have never existed. Our current players are great, but the players who have been with us for a long time but aren't with us now are also very important.
The reason why there was no other option but our victory was because of our 'Do-Taek-Myung' line, as well as many other great players such as Canata, Hyuk and TheZerg who have been playing well lately exist in our team I believe that the reason why these players were able to perform so well was because of the hard work the coaches put in to guide them through, and for that, I want to say thank you from deep down my heart.
Our team was always second in terms of depth of strategies, and recently we've upped that to first-class and that was only because of coach Mumyung and Boxer who have joined us recently, in the absence of coach Kingdom. I want to say thanks to these two people who have always consistently put in a lot of effort.
Lastly, I want to thank leader Kim Seung Chul, team leader Oh Gyung Shik, deputy director An Ji Hwan and manager Bae Jun Hyuk who have put in all the faith and trust in us, as well as manager Mun Gyung Nam, Mr Lee Gyung Nam and many others who have worked hard behind-the-scenes.
▲ Coach Choi Byung Hun: I am just simply happy that we won. I am thankful to the players and coaches who've worked so hard. Both players who played and were on the bench worked hard, but online practice partners helped out a great deal as well, which led to the results today. We will continue to work hard and raise the winning trophy once again in the next season.
▲ Coach MuMyung: The 5 times we've won, I've been a player up til the fourth time, so this is my first time as a coach, and it feels very different. It wasn't just the manager, but the coaching staff and the players worked hard together as well, which is why this victory tastes more sweet. We will work hard to do better in the next season, and create a stronger SKT1 zerg lineup.
▲ Coach oov: The Grand Finals feels like a dream. Being a year-long season, it felt very long and tiring, but I am happy that we won. When I first became a coach, my target was to guide a Terran player to an individual win, as well as winning the Proleague. Although it is rather sad that Fantasy took the runner-up twice, with today's win I am halfway towards my goal, and in order to reach my goal, I will work hard and guide Fantasy, who's already in the Round of 4 of the current OSL.
I lived with the team, learning a lot as I was still a new coach. It is because of my good manager and players that I stand here today. I have won many times in the past, but today was the first time I cried after a win. I realised that this was happiness for the first time today.
I think that there are many upset people regarding my bold interviews, but I felt that this was my last chance to win before I enter the army, so I worked really hard. I am sorry if anyone was offended by my remarks, and I hope they understand that I never had any bad intentions.
- We are curious as to who was the super ace player. Also, have you already planned for the next season?
▲ Coach Park Yong Oon: We won today so I shall say it. It was Bisu.
After becoming a coach, I set a roadmap and with today's win, I have crossed 30% of it. I think that everything is nicely going according to plan, and in the next season, I will work together with coach Choi Byung Hoon, coach MuMyung and coach iloveoov a lot. We seemed to have lost our focus along the way, so we worked hard to get back on track this season, and we intend to work towards making the currently well-performing players to perform even better in the next season. We will return as an even more powerful SKT1.
- The team started performing well once again with the return of Boxer.
▲ Coach Park Yong Oon: Boxer is old, experienced and wise. Normally when players get to that stage, they tend to become unfaithful and weaker in many aspects. But Boxer was different. He had none of those, and he guided the players well, sharing his know-hows and helping out the younger players a lot. Young players perform differently depending on who their role models are, and I think Boxer is the greatest role model for any players.
▲ Coach iloveoov: Like how there will be hardships in one's life, our team suffered hardship too. If one stays at the top position for a long time, they lose their manners, and if they work on that, they will once again be able to rise to the top. Strangely enough, when our team performed bad, it seemed Boxer did bad too in his stay in ACE. Like how he mentored me a lot when I was a players, the current players are also heavily influenced by him. However, I don't think that we are in our current state because of Boxer alone, and that it is because of everyone's hard work.
- It was quite sure that the ace player for the other team would be Jaedong. Did this help out in choosing your entries?
▲ Coach Park Yong Oon: Yes it's true. But even if it wasn't Jaedong, we were sure that we would win. It is because we worked hard to prepare for such a scenario as we progressed through the entire season.
- With your entry into the team, how much do you think the team's zerg line up has improved?
▲ Coach MuMyung: With rock-bottom performance in Round 2, starting from Round 3, we underwent hellish training. As a result, compared to Round 1, 2 and 3's result of 7 wins 24 losses, we went 12 wins 10 losses, going 2-1 in the post-season. I always tell my players as a coach that hard work never betrays the results, and I think this is true. Getting the winning rates from 50% to 80% is hard, but 20% to 50% is just as hard. I believe this is possible for all players, whether they are players who are with us here today or not. SKT1 won the Grand Finals, so I believe I have achieved 100% of my goal.
SKT1 players: "It's a victory of strategies."
"I am even more happy because everyone worked together achieve victory."
![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/interview/1249746702_1.jpg)
"I am even more happy because everyone worked together achieve victory."
- Your thoughts on winning the Grand Finals after 3 years?
▲ Fantasy: This is the first Proleague season win since my entry into the team, and hence I was able to taste the sweetness of victory for the first time today. I am even happier because I won in front of my family and friends in my hometown Pusan. I believe that we were able to win because everyone worked hard together, and I will never forget this day.
▲ Boxer: T1 won 5 Proleagues and I have always played in the Grand Finals except this time. But I am happiest with today's win the most, because it was the hardest to win. I feel happier because we won on the verge of taking it to the super ace match. I went through a lot as I played in the lowest ranked ACE team, but we won right after my return, so I am very thankful towards my teammates.
▲ Hyuk: I did not expect myself to win, so I feel really happy. I performed so badly throughout the entire season so I felt really sorry towards my teammates and coaching staff. Hence, I prepared even harder, and as a result, I was able to win today. I will continue to work hard and keep up this momentum.
▲ Bisu: In the playoffs last year, we suffered 2 losses and were not able to get into the Grand Finals. We have finally gotten into the Grand Finals, and because I believed that my performance would be crucial in the 08-09 season, I worked even harder than usual. I cut sleep and worked hard, hence the good results. We won today, so we will work hard to perform just as well in the next season.
▲ Doctor.K: When SKT1 won the over triple-crown, I was just a practice partner. I only watched them play from the beach, but today here I stand on stage, so I am very happy. A captain is voted by the teammates, but I lack in so many areas as a captain so I am very sorry towards my teammates. I am very happy right now, and I want to share this happiness with my other teammates. I love all my teammates.
▲ Mong: This is the first Grand Finals I've been to since my entry into the team and we won, so I am very happy. I hope we can win the next season as well.
▲ TheZerg: I transferred to SKT1 before the start of Round 2, but I still don't think I have become a core player of SKT1, so I feel disappointed withmyself. I practiced hard for today but I lost. But because our team won, that feeling is now gone. I am work hard to perform even better in the next season.
▲ n.Die_sOo: It hasn't been long since my debut but I have already stood on the stage of the Proleague Grand Finals so it's an honor, and I will work hard to be a key player to the team's victory in the next season.
▲ Canata: I managed to play in both the 2006 and 2009 Grand Finals. I am happy with just the fact that I can play as a member of SKT1, and I am happy that I am able to perform my best with the best players, under the best company. I will work hard to contribute to our team's win in the next season and fly the SKT1 flag once more.
▲ s2: It has been 2 years since my entry into the team, and this is my first Grand Finals I've been into. I was not a key member this season, but I will definitely contribute to wins in the next season by being a key member.
▲ BeSt: I am disappointed that I lost today, and I feel that I've been downgraded from an ace player to a back-up member, so I will work hard in the next season to become the ace player again. I will also work hard to make SKT1 the strongest team.
- The strategy used in the ace match was amazing.
▲ Fantasy: I was only aware yesterday that they decided on me to play in the ace match today. It wasn't guaranteed that I will play today, and I had a brilliant strategy prepared so I was confident. It was a strategy that would have worked regardless of who used it, so I am thankful to coach iloveoov and Boxer for giving me the chance.
Somehow I felt that if they saw me talking to Boxer, Hwaseung would notice that I had prepared a special build so I went to talk to coach iloveoov instead to trick them. I think that worked out well.
▲ Boxer: (Fantasy) said that anyone can win with that strategy, but among the SKT1 terran players, anyone can win with this except me. I won many games with good strategies so I don't think I could have done it (laughs).
I saw Hwaseung players looking at us. I felt that if I were to be seen to be talking with Fantasy a lot, they would figure out that we were going to go for a strategic play, so we decided to trick them by making coach iloveoov talk to Fantasy instead and make it seem as though he was going for a macro game. As for me and coach Mumyung, we pretended to hold a conversation when we were actually giving Fantasy advice.
- How did you think of this strategy?
▲ Boxer: The first time I thought up of this strategy was when we were playing simulated games after Hwaseung defeated CJ and sealed their place in the Grand Finals. I defeated Hyuk with this strategy and felt that it was such a good strategy. Even til then, Coach Park did not really support the strategy, but when I showed it for him to see personally, he was impressed. Hence, I told Fantasy about the build.
I felt slightly uneasy after seeing Jaedong going fast spawning pool today, but after seeing that he was teching, I knew we had won.
Source:
Coach interviews
Player interviews
Enjoy! Feedback and comments welcome!
