Berlin, Germany, June 13, 2024 — Berlin International Gaming (BIG), Germany's leading esports organization, announces the launch of its new talent development program BIG SELECTA. The program is designed to nurture young talent and build the foundational structures for a successful career in esports.
BIG SELECTA is aimed at ambitious young gamers who want to develop their skills in esports. The program offers regular coaching sessions and workshops, intensive training, and individualized development plans to support talent as effectively as possible. Particularly talented players are paired with experienced mentors from BIG's professional players, coaches, or managers, who support them through in-game and mental challenges.
BIG SELECTA places great emphasis on balancing education and school with player development. BIG views education as the cornerstone of long-term success, which is why development plans are aligned with each talent's availability rather than the other way around. Initially, the program focuses on Counter-Strike 2, but will integrate additional games in the future. Collaboration with existing development programs is also planned. BIG SELECTA talents are also explicitly permitted to pursue their playing careers in parallel with external clubs.
In addition to five "esports player foundation" talents, BIG has onboarded "KungFu_AJ", a promising prospect, for the launch of the BIG SELECTA program. He gained his first experience in Counter-Strike early on together with his father and developed over the years into one of the most promising talents in the German scene. Through targeted support from BIG SELECTA, his qualities will be sharpened even further.
"In the early 2000s, during the Counter-Strike 1.6 era, there was a pool of ten to twelve world-class players in Germany," explains Roman Reinhardt, Chief Gaming Officer at BIG. "Nowadays, however, the German market looks very thin. With BIG SELECTA, we are creating healthy competition that should primarily produce many talents rather than a single dominant team in national competition. We look forward to accompanying the next generation of esports stars on their path to success. Our goal is to effectively promote professional gaming in Germany and give young talents the opportunity to reach their full potential."
BIG SELECTA's comprehensive support offering currently includes the following benefits:
Financial Support: So talents can better focus on their competitive development.
Goals and Feedback: Individualized development plans and feedback sessions to identify and specifically develop player skills.
Bootcamps and Events: Participation in events to gain valuable experience and support talent in a targeted way.
Media Training: Support in building a personal brand and training in working with media and social media.
Professional Mentorship: Development through experienced mentors to ensure holistic talent growth.
In the next phase of the BIG SELECTA program, an application process is planned to give German talents the opportunity to secure a place in the talent development program. This coming Saturday, June 15, 2024, a BIG SELECTA talent team featuring Fynn "statikS" Szusdziara, Deniz "Icey" Görgülü, Lenny "nezoku" Thieme, Oliver Lucas "oli" Majchrzyk, and Jakub "Anomatron1k" Ziolkowski will compete against a selection from the XPERION NXT team at the DACH CS Masters. Tickets are available on the official website of the DACH CS Masters.
You can watch the announcement video featuring "KungFu_AJ" here. For further details about the BIG SELECTA development program, please visit the official website and follow upcoming announcements on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.