WHEN IT comes to the Philippine MLBB scene, Coach Ralph Andrei “Leathergoods” Llabres of Bren Esports is one of the scene's most forgotten names.
Back in Season 5, he once served as an assistant to Coach Francis “Duckeyyy” Glindro, and he even had several livestreams on Facebook that discussed drafting patterns and tactics.
Aside from his strategic prowess, Coach Leathergoods also made his mark for his very vocal outbursts. Case in point> That time when John Paul “H2wo” Salonga was rushed to the hospital and Setsuna “Akosi Dogie” Ignacio kept on rambling on his vlog during the Sibol qualifiers, only for Leathergoods to say: “Walang special treatment!”
And after a long hiatus in the MPL scene, Coach Leathergoods is officially back, serving once again as an assistant to Coach Duckeyyy, alongside Coach Paulo “Pauloxpert” Munsayac.
Why Coach Leathergoods left the MPL?
“Parang super tagal ko ng hindi nakakasama sa kahit anong competition, I mean that’s the reality of it. Mas nag-focus ako sa back-end work on how to develop our teams,” he said in a post-match press conference.
Why did he leave the MPL-PH in the first place?
“There are lots of other teams under me as a head coach for Bren so I really needed to focus on the holistic problem of the company on how we would handle all our players and coaches. After that, I also had a stint with the National Team (Sibol)."
Then he dug deep on his purpose for returning to the MPL.
“Dumami lang yung workload pero ngayon," explained Llabres, "I really want to give importance to the MPL kasi I think the MPL is one of the stepping stones of esports in the Philippines. This is the biggest franchise in the Philippines for esports and I really think na kailangan paangatin pa lalo yung level, not only yung mga athletes sa paglalaro nila pero syempre how their demeanor would be, kung papaano sila mag-interact sa fans nila, paano sila mag-post sa social media nila. So we’re giving more importance there para ma-develop sila as a whole."
What impact will Coach Leathergoods have in Season 10?
Since Leathergoods' departure, Bren Esports has been struggling to make their mark in the MPL.
Season 8 saw the M2 World Champs stumble in the regular season, while the following Season saw a rookie-led squad demolished.
The team needed someone to boost the team’s morale, which was something that Leathergoods brought in Season 10.
“When I saw the team na nahihirapan sila, sabi namin maybe with our presence alone, we can help them na and after that we have more plans on how to develop their characters more as a person and not just as players,” he said.
“It feels really nice now na nandito na ulit sa MPL and hopefully mas makakapagbigay ako ng change sa kanila para mas matulungan ko sila.”
Rookie Rowgien “Owgwen” Unigo could attest to his presence inside the locker room.
“Sobrang laki po ng tulong ni Coach Leathergoods actually sa morale namin. Yung mga past weeks namin sa paglalaro, medyo nawawalan kami ng morale as a team so noong umano si Coach Leather, gumaan at nag-ease yung mood namin as a team,” he said.
Currently Bren Esports is on a winning streak, amassing three straight wins over Onic PH, Omega Esports, and Nexplay EVOS.
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