About Jorien ‘Sheever’ van der Heijden
Sheever grew up as the third child in a family of six, with two sisters and a brother, in a village in the Netherlands. Sheever’s youth included a lot of time spent outdoors, much of this on horseback. She didn’t have the easiest time getting access to a PC, what with having to share one with three siblings. The house rule was: after an hour of PC-time it’s someone else’s turn. Nevertheless this is where Sheever first encountered games such as Snipes and Prince of Persia, which were later followed by Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and the Frozen Throne expansion. These introduced Sheever to early versions of the game that would later come to shape her life – Defense of the Ancients, now known as Dota 1.
In high school, Sheever was a serious student. Often getting up early in the morning to study for tests. After high school she flew the nest and moved to a city in the north of the Netherlands to study commercial economics. Sheever had a very active social life, as she pledged with a sorority and even started her own a few years later. During this period of her life Sheever was a casual World of Warcraft player.
After finishing her studies, Sheever got a sales position selling PC parts in The Hague. It was during this time that her casual World of Warcraft habit turned into a full-blown addiction. Much of her spare time was spent devising raid strategies and building boss guides. Eventually World of Warcraft lost its appeal (as it’s wont to do) and after an intense few weeks of Skyrim, Sheever got handed her Dota 2 beta key.
The first time Sheever streamed was to show some friends what Skyrim looked like. When she started playing Dota 2 she decided to keep it up. Her first step towards commentating happened as she was helping out as an admin with an amateur tournament. She and another admin were streaming some of the games, and as they were watching, they decided they might as well comment on what was going on.
A pivotal moment in Sheever’s life came when the company she was working for went through a rough patch and the people hired most recently were laid off – Sheever among them. She had some money saved up at this point, and decided to see if this whole Dota 2 business could become something more.
As it turns out, it did. That is not to say it was by any means easy. Sheever is often asked how she got started, and if she can provide tips on how to ‘make it’ in e-sports. And it may sound cliché but the saying ‘nothing worth having comes easy’ applies here. Going after what you want takes dedication, determination, and certainly some luck and good timing. In the period Sheever was trying to make a name for herself, the Dota 2 scene was not yet as established as it is now. That is not to say you cannot still make your way into e-sports today, but it will be hard. And it will be frustrating. It will seem pointless, and at times you will feel like giving up. I know this because I witnessed Sheever go through all of the above in the early stages of her career. Yet somehow she never did give up, and for that she holds my admiration and respect.
Sincerely,
Tigrish – Sheever’s sister and most loyal fan