Online academy now helping schools start or improve their esports teams.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Greenlawn, NY, April 2, 2021 – Gold Medal Esports has added to its classes and coaching, new services that include starting high-school and college teams, providing starter leagues, and creating its own tournaments. The company has witnessed a need for resources as esports continue to grow exponentially. “Parents and schools are quickly realizing that professional esports have become a legitimate industry and the days of video games being just a time-waster are long gone,” says Al Notarnicola, CEO of Gold Medal Esports. “Millions of dollars in scholarships are offered by colleges and universities. Couple that with the pandemic-era need for safe, monitored activities for kids and competitive esports become something that parents and schools are no longer dismissing or ignoring.”
Gold Medal Esports is now offering assistance to high schools and colleges looking to start or improve their own teams. Everything from assessing technical needs, player recruitment, try-outs, team-specific playbooks based on player skills, and private coaching is offered. They are even creating starter leagues – think farm system for the majors – to help schools “dip their toes in the water” before competing in state leagues.
“Getting started in esports can be overwhelming for parents and school administrators, especially when you consider the negative stereotypes still sometimes associated with video games,” says Chris Hoffman, Coaching Director at Gold Medal Esports. “We help people quickly see the benefits esports provide. We’ve found personal attention is really what’s needed to get started, something you can’t get by downloading a bunch of howto PDFs.”
Gold Medal Esports understands some parents’ negative impressions of video games, but they understand better the developmental advantages esports offer when students are properly introduced. The company points to several major studies that have been done on the benefits of gaming, specifically, increased critical thinking, improved interpersonal communication, and decreases in academic absentees.
The founders of Gold Medal Esports come from a successful career in coaching student-athletes in traditional sports. This history provides an understanding of the need to personally nurture players as individuals, instill teamwork, and the importance of the parent-child relationship in success. They know nothing improves kids’ skills like one-on-one attention – the reason parents send their kids to private lessons for traditional sports or to sports-focused camps.
Students interested in classes and coaching receive a free 30-minute evaluation with an instructor to assess skill-level and equipment set-up. Currently, Gold Medal Esports teaches classes and offers private coaching in 12 of today’s top games. They also facilitate tournaments where students can compete for cash, prizes, and of course, bragging rights.
Over 160 colleges and universities offer more than $16 million in scholarships to recruit players for their schools’ teams. Last year, the top pro-player made well over $17 million dollars, the global audience grew to just under 500 million viewers and total esports revenues reached $1.1 billion without broadcasting revenues. And while just as in other professional sports, not every kid will become a top-level pro, esports have blossomed into a feeder system for related careers in content creation, programming, software & hardware production, streaming, management, marketing, sales, operations, customer service and more.
About Gold Medal Esports: Gold Medal Esports is an online academy staffed by world-class gaming experts that help start and manage teams, provide coaching and classes, and organize competitive tournaments. Parents and schools get the help they need to navigate students safely through the video gaming world from beginners to professional players or into related careers.
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About Gold Medal Esports: Gold Medal Esports is an online academy staffed by world-class gaming experts that help start and manage teams, provide coaching and classes, and organize competitive tournaments. Parents and schools get the help they need to navigate students safely through the video gaming world from beginners to professional players or into related careers.
Media Contact
Al Notarnicola
Gold Medal Esports
266 East Pulaski Rd, Greenlawn, NY
631-980-4500
https://goldmedalesports.com/
