Fer reveals he played for years without hearing in his right ear

Hidden in his interview with Alexandre Gaules, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga revealed that he played much 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 above tweet says: “If you want to look at my chat with the Gau, it’s worth it!

Due to an infection in Fer’s ear when he was very young, he was completely deaf in his right ear by the end of 2016. He claimed that nobody ever knew anything about it, neither his friends nor his family. He didn’t even tell his teammates because he was afraid of being kicked off the team. Still, 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 that he used to help himself, although they would occasionally harm him and his team. If he thought an enemy was approaching to his right, Fer would turn his back, allowing him to listen with his left ear instead. This actually worked, but sometimes it resulted in fer being surprised and shot in the back. When asked by teammates why he turned around, he said he thought he was going to get blitzed.

Fer was also quoted as saying that his lack of hearing helped him develop the aggressive playing style 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 counter this, fer decided to play very aggressively so he always knew where the enemies were. However unorthodox and bold a strategy, fer was clearly able to make it work as SK Gaming continues to reign supreme.

Cover image courtesy of @fer