Fer Reveals He Played for Years With No Hearing in His Right Ear

Hidden in his interview with Alexandre Gaules, Fernando "fer" Alvarenga revealed that he's played a majority of his Counter-Strike career with only 50% hearing. Although the entire interview was in Portuguese, Reddit user stingers77 was kind enough to translate for us so we could get all the details.

The tweet above says: "Anyone who wants to check out my chat with the gau, it's worth it! Watch all then tell me what you think!"

Due to an infection in fer's ear when he was very young, he was left totally deaf in his right ear up until the end of 2016. He claimed that nobody ever knew, not his friends, nor his family. He never even told his teammates because he was afraid of being kicked off the team. Nevertheless, fer refused to let the issue affect him as SK Gaming became the best team in the world.

Fer also stated that he had some tricks he used to help himself out, although they would occasionally be detrimental to himself and his team. If he thought an enemy was approaching on his right, fer would turn his back to them, which would allow him to listen with his left ear instead. This actually worked, but sometimes it would result in fer getting caught off guard and shot in the back. When asked by teammates why he turned around, he would say that he thought he was going to be flashed. 

Fer was also quoted as saying that his lack of hearing helped him develop the aggressive playstyle he is known for. As he put it, he was at a disadvantage because of his hearing, which meant he wouldn't always be able to hear where enemies were coming from. To combat this, fer decided to start playing very aggressively so he would always know where the enemies were. As unorthodox and bold of a strategy as it is, fer was clearly able to make it work as SK Gaming continues to reign supreme.

Cover Photo Courtesy of @fer