Sports Hub unveils eSports facility to help athletes train for tournaments
Full-time eSports athlete Joseph Yeo used to be frustrated by the distractions of gaming at home. He also did not have teammates to help him improve while playing his FIFA19 matches.
Now, the 26-year-old Team Flash member can fully focus on improving his skills at the Singapore Sports Hub’s OCBC Arena. On Friday (1 March), the Sports Hub, together with Team Flash as its key partner, unveiled a professional eSports training facility aimed at developing emerging local talents in eSports.
“What’s great about this facility is that it brings my teammates together in one place to train,” Yeo, who has been playing eSports full-time for about four years, told Yahoo News Singapore.
“My teammates can immediately point out my mistakes, and suggest what I can do during the matches. They don’t have to waste time watching recordings of my games. It’s much more conducive for team training here.”
The facility provides a structured environment to help eSports athletes focus on their training regimes ahead of events like this year’s SEA Games in the Philippines, where the discipline will make its debut, and the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Team Flash will also host regular workshops and community events around the Sports Hub to highlight the profiles of national eSports athletes.
Terence Ting, Team Flash’s founder and CEO, said, “The partnership will provide us with the essential infrastructure to execute our talent roadmap in this world-class venue.”
Adam Firth, Sports Hub’s chief commercial officer, believes that the eSports athletes can make use of the sports nutrition and sports psychology personnel working at the Sports Hub to help in their tournament preparations.
Firth said the Sports Hub noted the big potential for growth in the eSports community after the venue hosted the first Hyperplay event and the AOV Valor Cup last year.
“We want to position the Hub as the partner of choice to grow Singapore’s eSports industry and building future national stars,” he added.
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