How A Pro Street Fighter Esports Player Builds Physical, Mental Strength

Rafa Ortiz and Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis run a strech of rapids on the White Salmon River for Away from Keyboard, in White Salmon, WA, USA on 04 April 2017. (Aaron Rogosin/Red Bull Content Pool)

BOSTON — This year marked the 30th anniversary of every millennial’s favorite arcade game growing up: Street Fighter. To commemorate this, Red Bull last month brought the Street Fighter V Capcom Pro Tour North American Finals Tournament to The Castle at Park Plaza.

One of the professionals in attendance, who had already qualified for the Capcom Cup Finals, was Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis,” who was also entered into several of the day’s tournaments. As one of the top 5-ranked Street Fighter players in the world, Snake Eyez has fans from all-around the globe and is always entered into tournaments both in America, and internationally (i.e. Dominican Republic, France, Japan, Mexico, Philippines). Many of Snake’s fans even attended the North American Final to cheer him on and hopefully get his autograph on their consoles and customized controllers.

After bursting onto the Street Fighter global stage in 2013, Snake Eyez caught the eyes of many scouts and eventually signed on as one of Red Bull’s first esports athletes. While he plays most Street Fighter games, he mainly focuses on playing Street Fighter V competitively — usually playing as the burly Zangief.

And, like your traditional athlete, there is a lot of training that goes on behind the scenes for esports athletes. Snake’s training regimen involves a lot more than just practicing Street Fighter up to eight hours every day, as the game requires intense mental focus, reaction time and endurance, Snake makes sure that he maintains his physical fitness as well — with a strict focus on strength training.

Snake also works on fighting his fears. In April, Snake went out to White Salmon, Wash. to ride the rapids and learn the ropes of kayaking with fellow Red Bull athlete and professional kayaker Rafa Ortiz for an episode of Away From Keyboard. As an esports athlete, Snake Eyez is no stranger to high-intensity situations.

“In a game like Street Fighter V, you have to take a lot of risks. That’s one of my weaknesses, you know, just doing something instead of thinking about it so much,” Snake said.

As Ortiz taught Snake Eyez on their trip, kayaking is all about “staying loose” and “relying on instinct.” In any sport, on game day, there are often times when there isn’t enough time to think and athletes must trust their preparation and let instinct take over — especially in a game like Street Fighter V. Sometimes, alternative outside-the-box training methods, like kayaking, translate into gaming more than people realize.

Snake also informed SportTechie that Street Fighter players in other countries and regions tend to have different styles of play, and that he needs to mentally prepare for opponents accordingly — no different than a football player watching film to prepare for next week’s team. Prior to the the North American Final, Snake, along with several other athletes, completed a week-long boot camp at the Red Bull Esports Studio to prepare for Capcom Cup Final — which also includes a prize pool of $250,000.

Unfortunately for Snake, he was eliminated during the last few rounds of the tournament. He will look to seek revenge at the Capcom Cup Final this month in his Southern California.