TRAINER'S EYE #51 - "Lessons Learned From Pokemon Battles ft. Reezzzyyyy

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by Reezzzyyyy, a Pokemon Trainer from Charlotte, North Carolina, who has a passion for both teaching and competition, specifically Pokemon Battles in Pokemon GO.

Reezzzyyyy shares his exhilarating experiences of playing Pokémon GO in the captivating streets of Charlotte. He also sheds light on how Pokémon battles have become an integral part of his journey, keeping him fully immersed in the world of Pokémon GO.

Reezzzyyyy also takes us on a captivating journey through the origins of  "The Underground," a Discord server he admins centered around helping other Pokemon Trainers improve their skills with Pokemon Battles. He shares how this supportive community was born, and how the Pokemon Trainers within "The Underground" motivate and uplift each other on their quest to become the very best in Pokemon GO.

Finally, Reezzzyyyy delves into his motivation to start streaming on Twitch. He shares his aspirations, plans, and goals for the future as he continues to connect with fellow Pokemon trainers and inspire them through his passion for Pokémon battles and teaching.

Trainer's Eye is a series where the stories are real and people still play this game. From PVP to Shiny Hunting, each person's Pokemon GO journey is unique and we dive into each journey here on As The Pokeball Turns!

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Connect with Reezzzyyyy: Twitter | Twitch | The Underground

Transcript

David Hernandez: 0:00

My name is David Hernandez, and you're listening to As the Pokeball Turns. Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where the stories are real and people still play this game. This podcast is no stranger to having teachers featured, but we've never asked the question, what is a teacher? Why are they important? Why do they get paid so little? Okay, okay, okay, my bad, my bad, wrong podcast... anyway, definition wise, a teacher is a person who helps students acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue via the practice of teaching. When you think about a person's life cycle from birth to death, teachers are the ones who build on the foundation for the students who come into their classroom. With this in mind, it could be argued that teachers are one of the most important members of society. They give students purpose, set them up for success as citizens of their society, and inspire them to do well and succeed in life. A teacher could easily influence hundreds, if not thousands of students within their lifetime. When we bring the role of teachers into the world of Pokemon, they are equally as important. They provide the foundation of learning about Pokemon, whether it be learning about species, evolution, or the type chart for battling. There are many people in the community who teach the fundamentals of Pokemon Go to others in hopes of developing the next generation of Pokemon trainers. without anybody willing to share or pass down their knowledge, the world of Pokemon wouldn't progress and would grow stale and arguably cease to exist. my guest is a teacher by day, but outside of the classroom, he's a competitive battler motivated to be better every day. From Charlotte, North Carolina, here is his origin story into the world of Pokemon Go. This is Reezy. Today I'm joined by Reezy. He's an admin of the discord community called The Underground, captain of the subzero faction from Silph Factions. Reezy, I appreciate you coming onto the show today.

Reezy: 2:30

Thank you for having me, David.

David Hernandez: 2:31

definitely. Now you're clearly heavily involved with Pokemon Go, especially on the PVP side of things. But I think and you can disagree with me or correct me if I'm wrong, I think you're probably most proudest role is being a father of your two sons.

Reezy: 2:45

How did you guess? Absolutely, man. My boys, RJ and Rylan are, they're my heart. They're my world. I give my wife all the credit for blessing me with them. I'm very stingy when it comes to being a father. I love to keep them to myself, man. my boys give me my motivation and, RJ is pretty much a split image of me like he's into pokemon go just as much as me. And now he's getting to the point where he wants me to coach him when it comes to coaching him with pvp, obviously, he's not going to be as skilled just yet he's only four years old, but I love the fact that he admires So many of my hobbies and I don't press him. I don't push him to do the things that I do he just Sees his father do it and wants to do it himself. So man, yeah, definitely my two sons are my pride and joy

David Hernandez: 3:31

Do y'all like go out and do say walks with the park or play the game together?

Reezy: 3:36

We usually go to the park. pretty often right now. It's been pretty hot here in charlotte but most times we do try to get out and go to the park i'll play You know while we're there, but honestly He spends more time just running around the park And just doing kid stuff more so than playing the game. if he sees that I'm playing, like if he catches me on my phone or something, he'll automatically assume that I'm out catching something. He doesn't want to miss it. he doesn't want to miss something that he hasn't seen and I'm catching it or anything like that. So he'll stop, you know, glance at my phone and then he'll take back off.

David Hernandez: 4:07

Now the bigger question to ask is, has he beaten you in PVP yet?

Reezy: 4:11

has he beaten me fairly or has, or

David Hernandez: 4:14

Like, like you're not holding back. Like you're going straight. Like you really are trying to beat him. Has he actually beaten you at any point?

Reezy: 4:21

no, not yet. I, I, I'm a good believer where I'm a strong believer in making sure that I keep my kids humble. And so whenever they get a little, start to feel themselves a little bit and, think they got it. I have to show him like, yeah, you still got some to learn, son. So he's getting close, but he's not quite there yet.

David Hernandez: 4:41

I think that's the role of any father because as a man you're very prideful You like he want to win and of course, you know, your son's only four. Let's let's be real like he's he's still growing up But I think there's gonna be that joyous moment So maybe one day when he does beat you and you actually would really did try your hardest But he's still been a couple years away, I think

Reezy: 5:01

And I wouldn't be shocked if that day comes sooner than later.

David Hernandez: 5:06

now when did you first start having any interest in Pokemon? What did that start for you

Reezy: 5:10

I think I was around maybe 6 or 7 years old. I started back when it was WB at the time. if you had cable, and WB

David Hernandez: 5:18

b33?

Reezy: 5:19

Yeah, everyone had it. So like when Pokemon first came on, I was like, okay, this is pretty cool. and then I got into the Game Boy games, I always got the hand me downs from my brothers. So like, they're a lot older than me. It's like an 11 year old gap, but, they were in high school when they were playing the Game Boys, but I was able to get my hands on Pokemon Blue and Red. And so I was able to play that, growing up as a kid and then it just stuck with me, man. just the idea of the role playing when it comes to Pokemon in that case, and then Mewtwo was always my favorite Pokemon. So I'm really heavy on gen one. and then as a kid, it just continued to grow on me, then I went to Pokemon yellow and then I always was fascinated how that game was really close to what we see on the TV as far as like facing Jesse and James and the storyline of being able to get all three starters and have Pikachu walk around with you, that was by far one of my favorite games of all time, just because of that. I did not, I will say this though, I did not have a, a Nintendo 64, and I didn't really get a chance to play Pokemon Stadium as much as I'd like because I was really, when it came to those consoles, I was really big on PlayStation and PlayStation didn't have anything to do with Pokemon. I remember it was one Christmas. This is when gold and silver came out and then they had the Game Boy Color that was gold, like, it flip flopped from gold and silver. So I, it was like an exclusive game board just for that Pokemon series of games. So I got that for Christmas. I was super excited about it and then surprisingly, I got Pokemon gold and silver for Christmas, so I would pretty much be playing those two games back and forth. It's just something that was embedded into my childhood. All of my friends watched it. All of my friends played the game. So it was just something that I just grew up knowing. And fast forward to 2016, finding out that Pokemon Go was coming to mobile devices. It was like me reliving some of that from my childhood, you know, if I must say so. and it was just my way of getting back into the game without having to go out and buy like a DS or Nintendo switch and things like that.

David Hernandez: 7:20

So did you eventually I guess fall out of the Pokemon series at some point

Reezy: 7:24

absolutely. And it's, there's two was. Around the time when I got to middle school, I want to say that's when diamond and pearl came out and that, and it was on the DS. once I got to middle school, I had already knew that I wasn't going to buy a DS, my mindset switched to buying sneakers and having clothes. Like I just started my train of thought changed.

David Hernandez: 7:46

teenager years is what we call

Reezy: 7:48

Exactly. it went from that to, clothes, shoes, that type of thing. Still have my, PlayStation two at the time. So most of my focus was on that. So I knew about those things. I knew about the game, but I never played anything. past, leaf green and fire red. I didn't play any games after that. Pokemon Go comes out 2016, super excited about getting into the game. I was a day one player, downloaded the game as soon as it was available in the Apple Store. Played for a few weeks, but I had to stop because that was also my first year of teaching. And so I was fresh out of college. and I wanted to really give my all into my career without having too many distractions because although, my coursework, my internships, all of those things have prepped me to being an effective teacher. But there's nothing like you starting on day one and it's your classroom, nobody's there, there's no observations or somebody's guiding you. It's you and those kids. And I wanted to make sure that I gave them my best. And so I stopped playing. I'll be honest. I stopped playing.

David Hernandez: 8:54

He seemed very driven to teach. It was like, was that your passion growing up

Reezy: 8:58

It was not my passion growing up. It was something that I'd like to say it was a calling. It was a calling. It was my purpose. It was something that I was running from early on in my, I don't know what you call those years that 19, 20, 21.

David Hernandez: 9:12

when you think you're an adult, but you really aren't?

Reezy: 9:14

Yeah. You know, that, that funny phase where you think you got it, but you don't really have it in your parents, but you don't want to listen to your parents, that was me. First got to college. My major was in early childhood education. I was having fun. I was doing some observations and being able to volunteer at some schools. I was like, okay, this is cool. But I was like, do I really want to do this? I just, I couldn't figure it out. I decided to transfer to another university and change my major, thinking that, hey, I don't know if I want to do this, but I think this new major of exercise and sports science would benefit me a lot more. I think it's more fun. It puts me back into sports, it allows me to interact with individuals who I feel are more like me as far as, the athletic mindset. I'll be honest with you, that year that I transferred, my grades bombed. I was off focus. I felt like my life was coming to an end and it was just a rough time in my lifetime and I really had to sit down and ask myself, and I don't know, I don't really like to get too deep into religion, but I know for myself, I had to sit down and take that opportunity to talk to God and say, Hey, look, what is it that, what am I, what is my purpose? What am I here to do? What like, because I tried to change my major and I'm struggling. but I've always remembered the wise words from my mother is that God would never put you in a situation that you can't handle. And so I thought about it. I was like, well, when I was majoring in education, everything was smooth sailing, the coursework was laid out, the scholarships were there, the connections were there, the opportunities were there and I had to think to myself, maybe I should have stayed. Maybe I should have continued to major in education and really give my all. to students and not be selfish and do what Reezy wants to do, but do what is meant for me to do outside of myself. and I realized, and I, once I came to terms with it, I like to say a phrase of you never work a day in your life when you do what you love. And so I can honestly say, eight years in education, I've never worked a day in my life. I love it, I love working with kids. I taught for seven years, all in second grade. I always loved it. I love the energy the students bring. they keep me pushing that we've always had these intellectual conversations where, I talk to my students like adults. I, like, when you're talking, that's it. I don't dummy down my words. I keep it real with them. that's the impact that I love to leave on my students. And if anybody who's younger than me or who's in college or high school, and you're listening to this podcast, I want you to understand that there's going to be times where you feel like you run into a brick wall and you got to realize that on the other side of that brick wall is everything that you've ever wanted is on the other side, but you have to endure and work hard enough to tear down that wall to get to it. Those hard times are the times that build character, they build our maturity, they build our personal growth. Don't quit because I promise you're closer than you think and if I don't leave anything else to anybody, I just want them to know that don't quit. You're there. You're there. You're right there. It's on the other side.

David Hernandez: 12:12

Were you ever able to connect with your students through Pokemon at all?

Reezy: 12:15

That's a funny. Okay. This is a really funny story. Okay. So yes, to answer the question. Yes. was it the best experience? No. and this is why. We had, I would love to call it an epidemic of just Pokemon cards in second grade. So our students at first, the first couple of weeks, I would say first couple of months, they would bring their Pokemon cards to school and we will see them. But I told my students, I said, if I send them to my classroom, they're mine and you won't get them back until May. I'm going to give them back, but you won't get them back when you want. So they knew that, but it was like, well, can we bring them to recess? Cool. Whatever. All right. You work with me. I work with you. Fine. Take them to recess. The issue came when my students and really wasn't just my students. It was the entire second grade would bring their cards to school trade at recess but then when we came back in the building, it became a this person took my card, you took my card. No, I want it back No, no, no, you took it and I want it just and just and it became this thing that every single day They would argue and fight over their pokemon cards. And so We decided as a second grade team that we wanted to shut that down So we sent out a mass message to all of the second grade parents and said They cannot bring the cards back to school. It is not Going to work. Let's keep them at home. If we see them, we're just going to take them. And if you want to come pick them up from the school, you can pick them up. So we had to shut it down. Although it was fun, we were able to have those conversations and talk about different Pokemon, but their thing was Pokemon cards, my thing was Pokemon Go and their thing was getting a little too out of hand for me. And so we had to shut it down, unfortunately.

David Hernandez: 13:51

That's unfortunate. I mean, I guess at that age, it's somebody who takes the charge or, that's a serious business right there. that's worth the fighting for.

Reezy: 13:59

I was like the police officer that had to go investigate and figure out who took this person's part. And it just became like, man, no, no, I'm not doing that.

David Hernandez: 14:07

You've been listening to As the Pokeball Turns. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back. What was it like for you in the first couple of early days when the game first launched?

Reezy: 14:57

I worked at Nike during the summertime and so like, anytime I went on break, I was going, I was walking around the outlet trying to catch what I could. the first couple of days I was like, man, this is fun, well, it's kind of boring at the same time because it was just a bunch of pidgey spawns and things that you really didn't want. But I would find myself grinding to an extent and now I'm not a hardcore grinder never been I don't know if I could do it like some people do but my grind was definitely, going to work early, walking around the outlet, trying to catch what I could. We did take a trip to North Carolina one time, and then we went to the mall, the mall had the gyms where you could battle. That was fun. I did find that fun. I just found that you really need stronger Pokemon to really take these people out their gyms, and I'm like, how do I do this? So there's a lot of hows, like how, how, how, and before I could answer those hows, that's when I Stop playing the game. Fast forward to around maybe 2018, 2019 I started seeing the commercials on tv. So i'm like, okay. pokemon go is still around. I thought because I stopped playing and everybody stopped playing. No, that's not how That's not how these things work. You know, then I started seeing the commercial thing. The main commercial that I saw on TV was when Mewtwo first came out and there was a commercial on TV about Mewtwo and the raids and things like that and I was like, wow, that's, I was like, that's cool. Still didn't download a game at this time. I was really thriving in my career. RJ was just born in 2018. and so I just couldn't slow myself down to download it. I did scroll past it on the app store and was like, all right, maybe but I've always skipped past it. Now fast forward 2020, as you all know, as the world knows, the world gets shut down, this is where I had to go to virtual teaching, everything was closed, we all know what was going on. So I decided that, since I'm going to be home a little bit more, maybe I should try to play it, I mean, it's not going to hurt. I never forget the date. March 30th, 2020 is when I reopened the game, downloaded it, and I Seen all of this stuff. It was like more spawns, different spawns from different generations. we had a gym in my apartment complex, I'm like, wow, yo, this is so different and that's where my interest kicked back in. and here we are.

David Hernandez: 17:01

you said you weren't a grinder, so what's your way to play this game?

Reezy: 17:05

So in terms of grinding, I'll say that I'm not the person that's going to be out five, six hours a day. But if there's something that is needed for pvp because as that's my bread and butter. that's more my focus i'll try my best to spend as much time grinding A particular pokemon for candy excels, whatever the case may be as needed. So if there's something during community day that I feel that is going to be able to shake the meta or something that would be meta relevant, Then I'll find the time to grind for those three hours, get my candies, if I can't cover enough candy, then I'll save some to trade with a friend to get the rest of the XLs or something like that. As far as my stardust goes, I try to spend wisely like I try to build things that I know that I'm going to need as far as competition. So if I'm building something for go battle league, I want to make sure I have enough dust for that Or if it's something for factions then I need to make sure that I have dust set aside for that because Factions, the metas can get so dense, That you want to make sure that you have Whatever it is, that's going to allow you to compete in a way where you're not struggling.

David Hernandez: 18:10

What do you like about PvP?

Reezy: 18:12

I might be the adrenaline. I've always been a competitor in many different sports and even other video games as well. I think that's the part of me that really loves PVP. and because there was a ranking system that went along with it that I didn't know in the beginning, but finding out how to rank up and get these different poses. No, I wanted that. I'll be honest with I wanted those poses. I wanted to be able to say that I achieved the highest rank in the game. And so that gave me a thrill. Now with that thrill early on, it was, it is what it is, you know, I was learning the game. But the more competitive I got, the more I wanted to do PVP. And so this is when I first got into Silph and started doing that and realized wait, I don't have to wait a whole day to battle cause all I wanted to do was battle. When, once I first learned how to battle, all I wanted to do was battle. So I was like, wow, I could join Silph tournaments and just play people that's cool. And I can pick a team? That was exciting for me. And so. That drove me to wanting to really learn how to play the game to be able to compete. I'm a true believer in not doing things and just halfway doing it. I wanted to do it and do my best and be the best, whatever that looks like. and that was one of the aspects that I just said, Hey, if I'm going to do anything about Pokemon Go, if I'm going to play this game, I need to pick something and that was the something that I picked.

David Hernandez: 19:33

Well, and you've really gone very far with that motivation, because you not only You haven't gone to number one from what saw, but you got to at least top eight, right?

Reezy: 19:41

Yeah, I've done top eight.

David Hernandez: 19:43

Because you got to be a part of GBLA?

Reezy: 19:45

yes, I did. I've competed in GBLA and I think that my highest ranking was number six. I made it to number six in the world. I made it to number eight in the world once and I made it to 3700 Elo points as well. So those are like my, as far as like GoBattling, those are, I would say my top accomplishments and then also competing in GBLA as well.

David Hernandez: 20:07

What was it like for you to compete in GBLA?

Reezy: 20:09

Ah, man, I hope people who play me don't listen to this, but I can't even lie, man. I am a fan of the game, so I was starstruck. being able to compete in a tournament with some of the best players in the world, I was really like a kid in the candy store. wow, like I'm competing with you all. this is great like I never imagined being able to do such a thing. it was really fun. it was scary because I'm playing against players who have done this season after season after season where I'm really just getting to this level of competition. And so there was that seniority I felt of them, that I was like, wow, I don't want to get paired against this person. I don't know how good. But once the matches are scheduled and it's time to play, it's like, all right, all that's out the window. nah, it's go time. Like we're, let's do.

David Hernandez: 21:00

Is it like those feelings to where you're like, if I can play against this person, I have a chance, but if I play this person, I have no shot in hell. Or is it kind of like that?

Reezy: 21:08

I can't even really say I, there are some players that I'd like to play more times than others, just because if I played him so many times in GBL I have an idea of what they're going to play. So to that extent, yes, because if I play someone who I constantly play almost every day, there's nine times out of 10, one of the three lines that are going to run is something that I've seen before. And so I have that insight. But as far as just pure skill, man, I feel like everybody's on the same level. anybody can have their day, once you get into that, top 10 range or whatever the case may be.

David Hernandez: 21:43

So in a show six pick three format, who's one player you have not had a chance to battle against that you would like to battle?

Reezy: 21:50

It would probably have to be, my good friend Arrow Oh no, I battled Arrow. Okay. It would have to be My boy Firestar definitely Firestar. Firestar did pretty well at the Charlotte regional as well I didn't get to play him. I watched his stats because he plays for a Home Slice Homies And he does so well with some of his teams and how uniquely they're built. I would love to play him in a show six pick three format because he did get the best of me last season in OGL, as far as GBL goes, His team, directly hard countered my team, and there was nothing I could do about it and I just, aw, it's, it's one of those losses where you want to win, but there's no way that you're gonna win, and it was one of those type of games. I would definitely want to play him, and I, in a neutral setting, show six, pick three, wish you the best, hopefully you can get good alignment, type of matchup.

David Hernandez: 22:44

Hey, that's fair, man. That's fair. you just mentioned Charlotte Regionals, so what was it like for you just to experience that? Because that was your first ever Pokemon Go event.

Reezy: 22:50

That was my first one. it was really cool and there was no way that I was going to miss it, just because it's right in my backyard. I had a really good experience meeting a lot of the people that I've interacted with on Twitter, Twitch, discord, and just being able to put a face to the name. I can't wait to the next one, honestly, as far as the competitive side of it, I didn't do as well as I wanted to. I don't usually make excuses, but the games weren't working the best. I'll say that it was a lot of lag and things like that. So the... but outside of that, I was able to find pure happiness and joy with just meeting a lot of my friends that I interact with on a daily and I spent a lot of my time with them, honestly, after, we finished on day one, day two, that's what we were doing, cracking jokes and, things like that. My boy Sid, shout out to Sid, one of my best friends. And he's also an admin and on the ground discord, meeting him was definitely, something that I always wanted to do just because we always go back and forth and underground, we're always joking, people may think we're arguing, but that's just how we are towards each other and to be able to meet, to be able to meet him for the first time, it was amazing. I hated to leave when it was over. I was like, man, I don't want y'all to go. I wish we had one more day to do this, we was like, you know, until the next event.

David Hernandez: 24:09

It's like one of those friendships where you just trash talk each other, but y'all don't really mean it. It's just, y'all do it to get on each other's nerves.

Reezy: 24:14

Yeah, we pretty much do that. Like, I'll be serious. If something happens, I might have a bad set and he'll come in and crack a joke. And I'm like, bro, look, I'm not, not, not today Sid. Not today. But that's just, that's just who we are. And that's just the relationship that we built and we understand each other, if no one else does.

David Hernandez: 24:34

And that's what's most important. one thing that I want to touch on is that you actually started streaming Twitch, right?

Reezy: 24:40

Yeah. So I'm not as consistent as I used to be, but, definitely I try my best to stream whenever I can. I'm also happy to be a part of the antimatter gaming team as well and twitch is fun, man. It Twitch is fun. Streaming is fun. it's one of those things where you log on and you have to be comfortable with talking to yourself, if I must say so,

David Hernandez: 25:02

It's a weird feeling, right?

Reezy: 25:04

a weird feeling at times, to be able to interact with the community, showcase my battles, that's always what they come to see anyway.

David Hernandez: 25:11

What made you want to start streaming on Twitch?

Reezy: 25:13

I felt that if I can stream on Twitch, that I would be comfortable enough to play in front of anybody and also play alongside anybody. So, I had to break that barrier for myself and that way when it came to like in the future, fast forward, whenever I started doing dual streams, I wouldn't feel as nervous playing on someone else's platform. I know the ins and outs, I know what it's about. I know the chat is watching and things like that. So it was just one of those things that I just wanted to do for myself to continue to push myself out there, like right around the time I started streaming. I'll call myself doing YouTube videos too and trying to, commentate my own battles. I wanted to be able to be a presence in a way but not be so shy about it because it is different whenever you're just in front of a camera You're talking but no one is looking at you. You don't see any faces and things like that So, I just wanted to be able to be comfortable for the things that i'm doing now in the future

David Hernandez: 26:13

It sounds like it was A pregame to whenever, I guess, collabs would happen or with somebody big, I guess.

Reezy: 26:18

Yeah, exactly at this point in time when I first started streaming, I don't think I was well known at the time, not a lot of people knew who Reezy was, but I wanted people to know my name, in my head, I'm like, you might not know me now, but I'm coming, and that's the mindset that

David Hernandez: 26:31

Yes. Yes.

Reezy: 26:33

you don't know me now, but I'm coming, and if you hop on the train this early, you'll be a day one fan, I promise y'all, I won't let you down, I'm gonna make sure I continue to prove that I can play this game. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. So that way, whenever I play with them, I wasn't going 0-5 every time I queued up and that was the only thing I did once. I think that was my worst fear like with doing dual streams is that, you know, usually the person that they'll hype you up a little bit and they'd be like, yeah, like Reezy's always done this, that, and I was like, my worst fear would be going negative every single set and this person just said all these things about me and then his audience is Watching me and they're like,"what?" He did what?" Because this person is screaming right now. I was Bombing it. I don't know who's the same person though. That was that's one of my fears. I'll be honest with you

David Hernandez: 27:24

like they build you up, they add the pressure to it, and you're like, oh my gosh, I gotta do good, otherwise they're gonna think I'm a choke artist or something like

Reezy: 27:30

No, and I didn't want to be there. I honestly, I did not.

David Hernandez: 27:34

I got the chance to actually check out your Juneteenth stream with Trainer Rem. what was that like for you

Reezy: 27:39

That was, that one was really, really fun. to be able to do that with Rem. That's, I call him my little brother. MJ, Kai, some others, were into the discord as well. that was so fun because Rem wasn't at the Charlotte Regional but MJ was and Kai was and so we were just cracking jokes, just getting along, man, the vibe was amazing, it was no pressure and so to be able to collaborate with my brothers, I would drop everything to do whatever it is they need me to do and that's just how we came up. back, I would say I think around 2020 when I first really realizing people were streaming on Twitch, Rem was one of the first people that I watched. It was amazing for me because I didn't know much about PVP, but to see someone who looks like me play this game really changed my mindset about streaming because there's not a lot of streamers in the African American community that streams Pokemon Go and that is also competing at a high level that has made the leaderboards that has all of the different poses and things like that So I was like wow, like that was amazing to me. So literally the next day I sent him a dm message and said hey i'm a big fan and I wanted pretty much I want to do what you're doing. and he was shocked that I even reached out to him. He was like, wow, thanks. like he didn't expect that, but it just took off from there because I really wanted to make sure that relationship was built because, I knew that I could learn from him and I knew that was something that I needed to see to be able to get me to where I am today.

David Hernandez: 29:12

did y'all know each other through the underground as well, or he's completely, you met him through content creation.

Reezy: 29:17

Just strictly through, yeah, mostly through content creation. And then I invited him to the underground after a while.

David Hernandez: 29:23

So what is the underground? I know we've been teasing it for a while, but tell people, what is it about?

Reezy: 29:27

it's one of the first Discords that I've ever been in that really focused on competitiveness. C dub is the creator of the underground. He reached out, he was like,. Hey, I want to start this discord, for PVP and Silph tournaments, would I be down to join it? I was like, yeah, for sure. I don't mind that. So it started as a tight knit group of people who really just played each other. We played in some Silph tournaments and we pretty much encouraged each other during our climbs in GBL because I think most of us were really like in that same ballpark. Most of us missed it the first four seasons. Season five was like an interlude season and in season six is when everybody really was like, all right, let's do it. So we were there for scrimmages, we helped each other out, we gave each other advice, if somebody had a bad day, as far as their battles, we were there to encourage each other. eventually we started hitting top rank just because we kept each other encouraged. More people will come in for the Silph tournaments, but they would stay for everything else. So the more people came, they will see, all right, like the conversations are pretty good like we, we joke around and we were given some solid advice about PVP and just whatever the conversation may be. after some consistency with some players really hitting legend, we started offering like, Hey, if anybody needs advice or you want to rank up and you really want to take your PVP skills to the next level, join an underground. And so we just offer to help a hand to the community because if someone helped us, so why not help the next person achieve their goals as well? And we just grew from that and today now, I don't even know how many people is in the underground now. it's a lot. It's bigger than I imagined to ever be but the same principles are there. It's still built on helping people reach their goals. We can definitely coach you, help you out, let's give you some tips, if you want to, record your battles and put them in the discord, we'll give you some feedback. That's going to help you out and that's where the discord has grown to.

David Hernandez: 31:25

It sounds like for y'all, the early stages started as just a group of friends, just trying to learn from each other as iron sharpens iron, and then as y'all raise ourselves up, y'all trying to bring others into the same circle and try to get them to the same level you guys have already achieved.

Reezy: 31:38

Absolutely. Absolutely.

David Hernandez: 31:40

That's awesome, man. That's what PVP is about.

Reezy: 31:42

That's what it's about. Yep. if I learn it, you will know it because I'll teach it to you as well,

David Hernandez: 31:46

So Reezy, you've been a lovely guest. My last question for this interview is this, so obviously, you don't have as much time for content creation, you do what you can, you're involved with the underground, and of course your factions, congratulations on going 24-0 by the way, I completely include that.

Reezy: 32:01

Much, much appreciated. Shout out to Sub Zero.

David Hernandez: 32:04

Are y'all going to be going to Project Zygarde?

Reezy: 32:05

That's the plan. That's the plan.

David Hernandez: 32:07

Well, my question was this. So what do you want to do with Pokemon go moving forward? Do you have any ideas or plans?

Reezy: 32:14

I think that I am ready to go into more so of the coaching scene, rather than still being competitive to an extent, but I think because my natural gift to be a servant leader. I want to be able to give people the help that they need to be successful and really focusing on that cause right now, like what I try to do is be competitive while still coaching or while still giving advice to players to help them out, but I found that, it takes up a lot more time to do it that way. I think that if I can just, hone into the skills of coaching and just being an advisor, I think that's what I want to do going forward and really seeing new players, reach their ranks and just see how happy they are to be able to do so.

David Hernandez: 33:00

Well, thank you for coming on the show before we do go, if people want to get connected with you, where could they find you? By all means, please plug away.

Reezy: 33:08

you can find me on Twitter@Reezzzyyyy_, which is R E E Z Z Z Y Y Y Y underscore. Also, you can catch me on Twitch at that same handle, which is twitch. tv slash r e e z z z y y y y underscore.

David Hernandez: 33:28

Awesome. And I'll make sure to include links to everything he said in the description of today's episode. Thank you for listening to As the Pokeball Turns. If you want to support the show, consider becoming a patron by either clicking the link in the description or going to patreon.com/asthepokeballturns. Now here's a sneak peek for the next episode of As the Pokeball Turns.