Australia’s first “Esports High Performance Centre” has been launched at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The centre will play host to League of Legends Oceania champions LG Dire Wolves as well as female development team Supa-Stellar.
The esports outfits will now be embedded and join the SCG Trust’s traditional sports partners including the Sydney Swans, Sydney Sixers, Sydney Roosters, Sydney FC, Cricket NSW, Rugby Australia, AFL, NSW, NRL and the NSW Waraths.
The centre is designed to aid grassroots development in esports. It’s kitted out with the latest technology and sport science, including eye tracking technology and other performance analysis tools through a partnership with the University of Technology, Sydney. The training centre will also be used as a place for visiting domestic and international teams to practice when they’re competing in Australia.
Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust Chief Executive Jamie Barkley commented: “It will be a game changer to have Australia’s leading esports professionals in a dedicated high performance centre in the same precinct as the best athletes and officials from the SCG and Allianz Stadium’s traditional sports. Our venues are rapidly expanding their technology offerings and partnering with professional esports entities and establishing the state of the art training centre presents an exciting opportunity.”
The LG Dire Wolves became the first teams from the Oceanic region to compete at the League of Legends World Championships, showing the progress the region is making. It comes as Riot continues to push grass roots initiatives across the world, with more regional offices from the company working in local communities to drive grassroots esports initiatives.
“Some international and local League of Legends esports teams already tap into traditional sporting organisation training facilities, but the SCG High Performance Centre will be one of a kind in the Oceania region. I’m excited to see how the centre will help the LG Dire Wolves elevate their game and raise the playing level for the OPL,” said Daniel Ringland, Head of Esports at Riot Games Oceania.
Esports Insider says: Great initiative here over in Sydney. The grassroots level is so vitally important for the sustainability and continued growth of esports and this is a lovely step. Even though Australia was arguably a tad slow on the esports uptake, initiatives like this show the instant acceptance of the industry. When will Lords become a UK esports hub?