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Kevin 'Harstem' de Koning from team Fnatic!Behind The Nickname #4: Kevin 'Harstem' de Koning.
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TrAiDoS: At the start I would love to talk to you about your childhood and life as a pro-gamer.
First of all, how is life for you at the moment? You just came back from HomeStory Cup IX and MLG, how did you like it? What did you like the most and the least at these events?
Harstem: I think the things I liked the least is the result I put up , I feel like my skill is quite weak at the moment after travelling for so many weeks in a row. Even though I did rather poor I frigging loved going to both of them. Homestorycup is a tournament I always enjoy going to, the atmosphere is something different than any other tournament I have been to in my life. I also had a blast at mlg, met a lot of cool americans and canadians I never met before, had tons of fast food. Just an overall awesome experienceTrAiDoS: Please tell me what kind of kid you were, when you went to school. How was your childhood in general?
Harstem: From 4-12 I was constantly outside playing football and building huts in the wooded area nearby. I think my childhood was quite good, my parents were quite strict with stuff regarding bedtime and how long I could use the pc, but I it wasn't that big of an issue.TrAiDoS: Do you have any favorite storie(s) from your childhood? If so, would you share them with us, please?
Harstem: I used to be a very bad loser and always start shit when I lost with football or basically any game in general.TrAiDoS: What is your best memory of school?
Harstem: Having fun with my friends in class, school was quite a pleasant experience in general.TrAiDoS: From the past right into the future.
What do you think does the future hold for you?
Harstem: Gonna play for at least one more year and after that I'll see what I do.TrAiDoS: Does it depends on something like your results to decide whether you play for one year or more?
Harstem: Yea based on results and how much I like the game. If I don't enjoy it anymore I will stop.TrAiDoS: Let‘s talk a bit more about you as a pro-gamer now.
How did you choose your nickname? Is there a story behind it?
Harstem: Me and one of my best friends were sitting at the swings when we were 13, I had to think of a nickname for ESL(I think so at least) and my friend just said " Harstem". I was like " what does it mean?" he responded " nothing, it just sounds cool, u can use it in front of other words as well like, that thing is harstem cool". After this conversation we used the word Harstem in front of almost every word to amplify its meaning, we weren't very bright kids.TrAiDoS: Can you tell us please, how did you come into eSports and especially StarCraft II?
Harstem: I played warcraft 3, I liked it and was really bad. Due to some miracle I got in contact with better players who told me that there was stuff like qualifiers, ever since I learnt about that I started going to every single qualifier I could attend just to meet up with the people. I was the youngest(13-15), but they did not care and treated me like one of them. I really liked the atmosphere and the transition from WarCraft to StarCraft was kind of natural. Sadly most of the people from WarCraft 3 are not here anymore.TrAiDoS: At tournaments you often listen to „Forgot About Dre”, if I am not mistaken. Why do you listen to that song in these specific moments? Does this song give you confidence or put you in the right mood?
Harstem: Its just a nice song to get hyped onTrAiDoS: If you could do any other job, would you change? If so, what would you do?
Harstem: I would like to have Hugh Heffner's job, no idea what it is but it seems rather cool.TrAiDoS: Imagine being a pro-gamer is not longer working for you. What is your back-up plan?
Harstem: Back to university, not sure what I want to study yet, but going back to school is my plan for sure.TrAiDoS: When you go back to school, will your do the Stephano-Thing and change your status: pro-gamer -> retired -> student -> kinda retired, but still playing at tournaments?
Harstem: I would slowly stop going to events. I feel like playing part time won't be an option for me as I am quite dumb and need a lot of practice.TrAiDoS: What does your family think about your job as a pro-gamer and all the traveling?
Harstem: My parents are very supportive, my mom and dad try to watch as much as possible. Especially my dad is really into it, he has a system in his head on who is a good player and who is bad. Normally when there is a big tournament me and my dad make bets on who advances from what group and I am sad to say that most of the time we tie or he wins.TrAiDoS: Lets talk about you and your life in general a bit now.
What is the most important lession you have learned in life so far?
Harstem: I think a lot in life is just about pure luck and it is important that you accept that. Also try to live life in the now, don't think back about what mistakes u made and how you would have done things different. It is very corny advice, but I think it makes sense.TrAiDoS: As some people might know, you have been an vegetarian for quite some years, but you quit a few months ago. Why did you do that and what was your motivation behind living a vegetarian life?
Harstem: I wasn't a big fan of meat and wanted to see how easy it was to be a vegetarian.TrAiDoS: Why do you started eating meat again? Was is easy to be a vegetarian?
Harstem: Starting to eat meat was my new years resolution , sometimes in foreign countries it was hard to get vegetarian food. So I decided to start eating meat again and I don't think I'll switch to vegetarian in the near futureTrAiDoS: Please describe yourself in only 5 words.
Harstem: Big lipped smiling tall guy.TrAiDoS: What are you proud of the most?
Harstem: Doing what I enjoy the most, playing videogames for a living, travelling to foreign countries with my friends. The e-sports life is kind to me.TrAiDoS: What are you thankful for in life?
Harstem: My family, friends and that Fnatic keeps me on their team.TrAiDoS: Please tell us something about Kevin de Koning no one knows yet.
Harstem: My life is an open book. I guess no one knows that I sometimes bite my own biceps pretending to be a zombie.TrAiDoS: Random questions, here we go!
Pick two celebrities to be your parents. Why do you pick them?
Harstem: Nicki minaj (breastfeeding) and Jimmy fallon (seems like a cool guy)TrAiDoS: What would you choose as a title your life?
Harstem: #LifeofharstemTrAiDoS: If you had to change your name, how would you name yourself?
Harstem: Long-dong JohnTrAiDoS: What would you like to own and why?
Harstem: I would like to own a boat, cruising on the ocean with ma homeboys and homegirls seems like the dream.TrAiDoS: If you were black for just one day, what would you do?
Harstem: Play starcraft, desperately tweet at Nicki, get rejected, cry in a corner, try again, cry more, play starcraft, lose to semi-decent foreigners, wonder what my life has become.Also eat some food, eating is important.
TrAiDoS: What is your favorite object and why?
Harstem: I like my bike, brings me everywhere and don't care bout how heavy i am.TrAiDoS: How do you define a „Macho”? Can you give an example?
Harstem: Dennis Gehlen is a real macho, always bragging about his huge biceps and his pretty girlfriend. However once you get to know him you know that he is a huge softie and all the big talk ain't real.Huge thanks to
Harstem for answering the questions.If you want to support him and follow his journey, please follow him on Twitter @FnaticHarstem
You can follow me as well on Twitter, I am @TrAiDoS_
Hope you guys enjoyed it and thanks for the read! :-)
Previous Interviews:
Snute Interview - Behind The Nickname
Dayshi Interview - Behind The Nickname #2
ToD Interview - Behind The Nickname #3
