Spirit CS2 star donk’s excessive practice regime sounds absolutely exhausting

That's a lot.

Donk, a CS2 player, sits and plays with his Team Spirit teammates at IEM Katowice 2024.
Photo by Helena Kristiansson via ESL

Team Spirit and CS2 star player donk made the spotlight in February after winning IEM Katowice. The 17-year-old shocked the world with his skills, but it’s no wonder he’s so good considering his staggering practice regime.

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Being a pro player is no easy feat. Spirit undergo daily in-game training and theory sessions. But that’s not enough for donk, who says he put an exhausting amount of time into extra solo practice.

Judging by his routine, it sounds like donk spends almost all his time playing CS2. “After the team practice is done I can play for myself and I play up to seven games a day excluding team practice. If I believe that I need to do more, I go and play some more,” donk said in an interview with Esports.gg on May 12.

Team Spirit's CS2 team lift the IEM Katowice trophy as the crowd celebrates.
Playing so much has clearly paid off for donk. Photo by Helena Kristiansson via ESL

Donk didn’t specify how many hours he practices with his team, but considering other teams’ schedules, we’re guessing around eight hours a day. Adding seven matches onto that sounds tiring.

But after winning IEM Katowice and taking home the MVP award, it’s clear the sacrifices were worth it. Spirit remain a competitive squad in CS2, reaching the quarterfinals of PGL Copenhagen Major, and are now preparing for three tournaments in a month.

The 17-year-old has devoted himself to CS2, judging by the number of hours he’s played the game. At the time of writing, he’s played Counter-Strike for 14,122 hours in it, according to his Steam profile. That’s roughly 588 days, or a year and a half. Astonishing.

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Image of Mateusz Miter
Mateusz Miter
Freelance Writer at Dot Esports. Mateusz previously worked for numerous outlets and gaming-adjacent companies, including ESL. League of Legends or CS:GO? He loves them both. In fact, he wonders which game he loves more every day. He wanted to go pro years ago, but somewhere along the way decided journalism was the more sensible option—and he was right.