Originally, Kasper Straube was supposed to start on October 1st, but since his association with his former employer, the Norwegian esports organization Heroic, ended prematurely last week, Straube could begin his work at Astralis as the organization's new sports director on Monday.

The 32-year-old physiotherapist specializing in Osteopathy joins Astralis with in-depth knowledge of esports and Counter-Strike, having gained extensive experience as the Head of Performance at Heroic.

Now, Straube is ready to roll up his sleeves and make his mark in the sports sector at Astralis.

Last Friday, the new sports director visited the headquarters to greet the organization's staff. Straube had his first official meeting with the Counter-Strike main team players and coaching staff the Monday after.

Reflecting on his new role as sports director

If you would like to know more about how the new sports director plans to approach everything, you can find the answers in the video below:

In the video, Straube discusses the main team's new lineup, what it takes to build upon the great work already done, and how he plans to contribute to fostering an even stronger team spirit:

Straube: Thrilled to get the opportunity as sports director

Kasper Straube expresses his happiness and pride in being the sports director at Astralis:

- I'm naturally thrilled to have the opportunity to become the sports director at Astralis, to be part of the whole Astralis house and everything that is going on here.

- I'm incredibly excited to be a part of it and, more importantly, to contribute to moving Astralis forward together, Kasper Straube says. 

- I believe there are things that are already done right and can be done better.

- I am very innovative in my mindset and have a lot of ideas about how to adjust certain aspects. When you add that to the other skills within a team, suddenly you can start building new things that haven't been made before, he adds.

Facing off NAVI in the opening round

On Friday, the main team lineup will participate in a major LAN tournament for the first time when the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023 kicks off.

In their opening match in Group B, they will face NAVI at 15:00.

You can read much more about BLAST Fall Groups 2023 right here, where Benjamin "blameF" Bremer also shares his thoughts on the tournament and the opponents in Group B.

And as always, you can follow Astralis' matches on Astralis Watch.