Based on a balanced, professional approach to performance and a constant progress, Astralis today announced the launch of Astralis Talent – a new talent development initiative designed to create a recruitment platform and training partner for the A teams, as well as contributing to the development of young talent in a professional setting.
Astralis Talent will be located in the same facilities as the A teams of Astralis, the players will be an integrated part of the performance programme, with access to the same staff and tools as the pro players and facilities will be made available for study purposes.
Initially, the setup will include talent teams in League of Legends and Counter- Strike. In League of Legends, Astralis Talent Coaches will be Mikkel Donby (Head Coach) assisted by Anders Schultz, and in Counter-Strike, Dennis Vang is brought in as a Head Coach, as well as assistant for the A team under Danny 'zonic' Sørensen.
Anders Hørsholt, CEO:
- We have invested significantly in creating the optimal conditions for professional esports players and we aim to constantly progress as an organization, as teams and as individuals. By introducing “Astralis Talent”, we invite local talent to be a part of our set-up and culture with the ambition to integrate young players into a healthy, competitive environment, introducing them to the life of a true professional.
- Astralis Talent is an investment in the future as a possible recruitment platform for our A teams, as well as inhouse training for all players. It is a way for us to secure an even better connection to the local ecosystem and over time, we hope to elevate players into our A teams. This will not happen overnight, though, and we are going to work with the set-up and fine tune the processes over the coming months.
- Over time, the Astralis Talent set-up will enable the A-players to stay competitive when not playing for the A team, while letting a selected group of ambitious youngsters take full advantage of being a part of a top professional organization, competing together with far more experienced players, says Hørsholt.
Kasper Hvidt, Director of Sports:
- Ever since we started, we have had discussions around how to implement talent development into our overall strategy without compromising in other areas. We finally feel, we have the resources and facilities and we have gained a lot of experience, which we obviously did not have when starting out.
- Our new A team coaches in League of Legends have brought a lot of experience and ideas and together with zonic, performance manager Lars Robl and the three new talent coaches, we will have an extremely strong group around the teams.
- The Astralis Talent set-up is a talent education programme with full access to Astralis Group’s facilities and organization, aimed at integrating the talents into the performance culture of Astralis. For a start, we will most likely have 1-2 players on each team who are older and more experienced, but we aim to work mainly with 14/15-20 years old players. We will include their parents to the degree needed, and we will insist the players continue with school and education.
- In year one, we will have a total of 3 teams in League of Legends. In 2021, the A team and the Talent team will be working out of the Copenhagen HQ, while the Academy team will still be working and playing in the Spanish second division. In Counter-Strike, both the A team and talents will be working and playing out of Copenhagen and the talent team will compete in relevant regional tournaments.
- It is a move for the future, and it will take time for us to implement the full set-up. Initially, we consider these separate rosters from the A-teams and it will not affect the A team roster size in Counter-Strike. However, over time, it is a clear ambition to fully integrate Astralis Talent into the overall performance and player development strategy, Hvidt explains.
Talent teams and rosters in both League of Legends and Counter-Strike will be finalized by early January at the latest, Hvidt comments.
News and updates about Astralis Talent can be found on Astralis.gg and the Astralis Social Media Channels.
Astralis Talent is the talent development programme of Astralis Group, operated out of the Copenhagen HQ. Initially, Astralis Talent will be actively working with Danish esports talents in the games of Counter-Strike and League of Legends.
Practice, exercise and playing facilities will be shared with the A teams of Astralis, while relevant facilities for study and internal education will be available for the players involved in Astralis Talent.
Kasper Hvidt, Director of Sports
Overall responsible for all teams, strategy, and development of set-up
Lars Robl
Performance Manager across all teams, A and Talent
Mads Nansen Paulsen
Team Manager, League of Legends (A) and Astralis Talent
A-team coaches will be involved as resources permit.
All resources and staff of the Astralis Group organization will be available to players and coaching staff in Astralis Talent.
Dennis Vang
Assistant Coach Counter-Strike A team and Head of Talent, Counter-Strike Talent (starts January 1)
Mikkel Donby
Head Coach, League of Legends Talent (starts December 1)
Anders Schultz
2nd Coach, League of Legends Talent
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