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Interview with DIG CS:GO Fe player, CAth
We reached out to Catherine "CAth" Leroux and she gave us some of her time to answer our questions about the squad’s recent results, how she manages to keep CS:GO as a professional career while still finishing her studies, and her newest project: The Right Click Show.
Hi Catherine. What is your opinion on the recent squad results in official matches?
CAth: The season has been going okay. I'm going to be quite honest, our record isn't reflecting our true potential and I think we could do so much more than that. I think we talked a lot about our issues in game and we're ready to just win out the season to go into playoffs.
You have only been playing online matches, mainly ESEA. Are the results so far aligning with the needed to achieve your online goals?
CAth: We always want to travel as many LANs that we can if it's worth it. It's difficult during this time of the year because that's usually the moment where there is not a lot of female tournaments or other LANs in general. We are attending DreamHack Atlanta next month and looking forward to showing what we can do against mixed teams once again!
How is practice going so far?
CAth: We practice five days a week, Monday to Friday, from 4PST to 9-10PST. We have a period of time where we review our strategies and dry-run them. Then we jump into some scrims for the rest of the night with a few breaks in between.
According to your Twitter, you’re still studying. Despite being almost finished with it, how is it being a professional player and a student at the same time?
CAth: It is definitely a lot easier now than it was before, thanks to Dignitas! I remember being at school fulltime, working part time for 20 hours, then hopping on for team practice at night. It's definitely possible, but you need a lot of discipline to achieve it.
Were you always able to manage it successfully or were there times where you thought about giving up one or the other?
CAth: I had a break for a year in 2016 where I dropped out of school and focused 100% of my time into CS. It was always in my plans to go back to school and finish my bachelor's, because I've always liked the idea of having a plan B in case CS:GO didn't work.
How is a normal school-work day for you? How do you manage your time?
CAth: So, I go to school twice a week for 3 hours. On those days, I wake up, eat breakfast, walk Arthur, and go to school right away. I come back around 3 PST and have just enough time to relax and cook dinner before practice. Those days are usually kind of a rush, but I still really it because it pushes me to do and learn something new outside of the field of video games every day!
And what about competing and practicing during examination times? Do you try to stick to a schedule that allows you to be prepared for both?
CAth: I usually go into binge study days on our off-days of practice (10-12 hours+ per day for 2 days) to prepare for one single exam. That method has worked for me pretty well in the past. But it does become kind of hectic sometimes. I had to study or do group projects on flights in a foreign country just to hand in a project in time or to be ready for an exam coming back from a tournament. I find airports the perfect venue to study because you have so much off time there to do whatever you need to do!
Would you recommend your fans having the same approach to trying out professional gaming the same way as you? Why?
CAth: I would definitely recommend for people to go to school as much as they can. Even though it is very time-consuming, it has pushed me out of my comfort zone to learn something new almost every day and help me develop my analytical skills. Being a professional gamer, you get to live in a little bubble that tends to cut you from the outside world so going to school directly counters that.
Are you planning to focus 100% on your professional gaming career after being done with school in a few weeks?
CAth: Yes, I plan on focusing on CS 100%. Can't wait to not have to worry about any exam dates or upcoming group projects!
Recently, you and the squad started a new project – The Right Click Show. What is the idea behind it and how did it all start?
CAth: We saw other gaming podcasts and we were inspired by them. We felt like it was missing something. We wanted to add our own little spice. We felt like we have this creative energy that needed to be exposed and we wanted to add more to the podcast scene and the community. Our objective for now is just sharing our ideas with the communities, just for leisure. We hope that it can become something big, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves and take things day by day!
How is the feedback so far?
CAth: Good! We have only done two shows so far, but the response is quite good from the community.
Any last words you would like to say to finish up the interview?
CAth: I would like to say thank you to all of our fans that are here to support us every day and follow us on social media because we wouldn't be able to do what we do without you guys!
I’d like to thank CAth for taking her time to answer my questions and wish her the best of luck with the future. You can follow her on social media: