Team Liquid partners with Thorne in growing focus on player health and training

29 September 2022

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Thorne Liquid partnership
Image credit: Team Liquid / Thorne

North American esports organisation Team Liquid has announced a partnership with health and wellbeing firm Thorne HealthTech.

As Team Liquid’s official Health and Wellbeing partner, Thorne will support the organisation’s community in optimising their performance via at-home health tests, nutritional supplements and quizzes.

The multi-year deal looks to introduce both Liquid’s professional players and casual fans to science-backed products that support performance and healthy living. The products will focus on sleep, mental focus and energy levels, the two companies said.

A co-authored case study featuring Thorne products in action by Team Liquid players has been described as ‘highly encouraged and desirable’ as part of the partnership. However, it is not a mandatory partnership deliverable despite initially being planned as one, according to a spokesperson.

The partnership with Thorne fits into a growing focus by Liquid — as well as other esports organisations — on transforming the training experience for professional players in esports.

In April, Team Liquid launched Alienware-sponsored The Pro Lab in partnership with Dutch neuroscience research group BrainsFirst. The group is mapping pro players’ brains in a bid to pioneer and develop sports science’s application to esports.

Team Liquid told Esports Insider that while The Pro Lab is focused on measuring outputs, such as mechanical benchmarks and cognitive speed, the Thorne partnership will focus more on inputs like supplements, preventative care and proper nutrition.

“Just as athlete wellness is key in traditional sports, it plays an important role in competitive performance in esports,” Chang-Hyun Ko, Team Liquid’s Director of Performance, told Esports Insider. “Grinding a game for hours on end is taxing both mentally and physically.

“We recognise that developing healthier, science-driven routines can help our players reach and maintain their maximum potential and consistently be able to perform at their expected high levels.”

Ko cited Liquid’s experience earlier this year with its World of Warcraft Race to World First team — which had to take a break from the race due to health concerns — as a contributing factor in its introduction of more health-focused initiatives.

Asked which supplements would be part of the deal with Thorne, Ko said they’d be primarily focusing on products that support overall health, performance, endurance and recovery, with the aim of improving cognitive function, focus and sleep.

“The goal is to build the athlete and protect the athlete first by providing the necessary vitamins and minerals that we sometimes don’t get from our foods alone,” he added. “Then we will look at additional boosters that help with high performance cognitive function.”

Thorne joins a Team Liquid partner portfolio that includes the likes of Alienware, Honda, HyperX and Verizon, amongst many others.

Jake Nordland
Jake is Esports Insider's Features and Trending News Editor. Part of the ESI team since early 2021, he's interested in politics, education and sustainability in esports.