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Maxine Esteban opens up on how gaming helps her as an athlete
- 29.08.2024
Paolo Barcelon
Photo Courtesy: PBA Images
Aside from finishing her university degree, Filipina-Ivorian fencer Maxine Esteban confessed, she’s a proud gamer - and that it helps her on her daily routines as a fencer.
The 23-year-old Olympian opened up about her gamer side in an interview with One Sports. She has attained the highest ranks in two multiplayer online battle arena or MOBA games - mythical glory in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Immortal in DOTA 2.
"I started playing DOTA during the pandemic because wala kaming magawa sa bahay, so my Dad invited me to play DOTA and actually before he already taught me how,” Esteban told One Sports. “But we weren’t as active [then] as we were during the pandemic, kasi during the pandemic we played hanggang 5:00 a.m.,” she added.
Currently, she is the world #27 in fencing, and had recently finished her Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences, major in Leadership and Communication at the University of Pennsylvania as a summa cum laude.
Esteban says gaming helps her in her athletic pursuits.
"I think for gaming, it’s a lot like sports kasi syempre kailangan mong mag-isip ng marami and you really have to have mental strategy,” Maxine told One Sports. “So I think it also helps me in sports kasi it makes my reflexes faster, tapos it also helps me strategize more.” she added.
She has already launched her gaming pages on social media, and told the press, she may have considered a pro esports career.
"Yeah actually, I wanted to become a pro gamer and I also started streaming during the pandemic but then I stopped when I had to start training again,” Esteban said.
Esteban had represented the Philippines from 2017 until 2023, when she chose to become a naturalized citizen of the Ivory Coast.
She competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics under the Ivorian flag, where she was eliminated in the round of 32 stage.
