KayJay: "I love working with these guys so the money doesn't bother me"
Beyond a name that harkens back to NA's beloved Bad News Bears, Kosovar squad Bad News Eagles has another important NA connection in the form of their assistant coach, Kieran "KayJay" Playfair. The 26-year-old Canadian former TSM and Liquid analyst has been working with Bad News Eagles since August of last year, however Paris is his first event in-person with the team. As such, Dust2.us' Ryan Friend took the opportunity to catch up with KayJay to discuss working with the orgless squad, his role in the team, and his goals for CS2, among other topics.
To kick the interview off, KayJay discussed his origins with the team.
I got approached by stikle-. He was looking for an assistant coach at the time and I didn't really have any other offers after leaving RBG so I joined them and have been working with them for the past eight months.
In his first event in-person with the team, he is having a BLAST.
Meeting the players is great, got here by myself and I paid for everything. The players supported me a little bit financially but they don't have any financial support so we all do it by ourselves and make our way here.
KayJay touches on balancing playing with an EU team while living in the States.
It's easier than you would think. It kinda sucks for my schedule but I wake up around 3am or 4am in the morning. We do demos and practice until 10am and then I work 10am to 3pm. After work I do any prep I need to do and any final demos I need to watch. It works but it's a bit hard.
Although it doesn't come without intense effort. When asked about workload, this is what he had to say.
It's a lot, like 16 hours of just grinding a day, but it's worth it.
Making the Major is a payoff, but it didn't come without financial sacrifice. When discussing salary, this is what he had to say.
Not paid, but when I was here they were paying for dinners and stuff. Sometimes they'll give me a bit of compensation but it's not a salary or anything.
When asked about leaving for a salary, he expanded on his undeterred loyalty.
Not really. We're continuing to look and talk to people, so one day it will eventually come I'm pretty sure. It's never really been on my mind, I love the team and I love working with these guys so the money doesn't bother me.
