Denisse: “At one point, I found out about the MPL Philippines tournaments and decided to try streaming.”
Tournament hosts Altea “Thea” Franco and Denisse “Denisse” Valdesanche, appearing on the 8G podcast on the Wolf Casts YouTube channel, recalled how they first became interested in commentating on competitions and discussed their invitation to host MPL Philippines.
On working as a sports reporter
Thea: I was also a sports reporter and covered basketball and volleyball games. I listened to the players and interviewed them. Besides them, I could also talk to other people during the games, like analysts.
Denisse: Working with news, gathering material, interviewing players, and writing my own script, and then reporting. Afterward, you talk about the work you’ve done.
On how my passion for commentary began
Denisse: Before getting into this field, I was very passionate about various public speaking and hosting programs, although initially, I planned to pursue a career in medicine. I studied biochemistry but decided not to give up my passion for public speaking. I had a teacher who told me I could succeed in this field. Shortly after that, announcements came out for casting calls for hosts for some tournaments during the pandemic. And I decided to give it a try.
Thea: I never thought I’d become a caster. In college, I studied chemical engineering for two months, and then I realized I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life. I had a lot of doubts. Then I became interested in tournament coverage and commentary, and one day I received a link to an audition for tournament commentary.
On the invitation to host MPL Philippines tournaments
Denisse: As you know, Hans was also at USD, right? We were tournament hosts at USD together. I don’t remember where we were commentating—I think it was on Tiger Media Network. We did it on the radio. At one point, I found out about the MPL Philippines tournaments and decided to try casting. One day, I was invited to host one of the tournaments. It was easy to say yes, since I was already familiar with the scene. Then I reached out to Hans and told him, “Some people from MOONTON messaged me—do you know anything about this?”
Earlier, Team Liquid PH players Sanford Marin “Sanford” Vinuya and Alston “Sanji” Pabico shared their observations on the improvements to the Jungler role by KarlTzy and commented on the team’s success in the regular season of MPL Philippines Season 17.
Photo — Wolf Casts.
