Mar 15th, 2019

Mar 15th, 2019

Esports has taken another giant leap into the mainstream, with the establishment of a high-performance centre at one of the most iconic sports grounds in Australia.

Up until recently, the idea of Esports competitors sharing a space made famous by sporting legends like Don Bradman was nothing more than a pipe dream.

That’s no longer the case, with the Sydney Cricket Ground now home to a training centre that allows Esports to rub shoulders with Australia’s elite footballers and cricketers, with a base in the same complex as the Sydney Roosters, Sydney Swans, Waratahs and Cricket NSW.

Australian team Direwolves are the first to train at the Centre. They will use it as their home base for the League of Legends 2019 Oceanic Pro League split.

Direwolves train at the new high-performance centre, SCG (Nine)

During an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour given to Wide World of Sports, Direwolves Jungler Toby “Udysof” Horne sheds light on what it's like to be first to play in such an establishment.

“Playing at the SCG really legitimises it for the older generation, especially my dad,” Horne told Wide World of Sports.

“We’re spending eight hours a day playing video games in the office.

“I get this opportunity to play at the SCG. Everywhere there’s sporting people around, there’s people in suits, everyone looks all nice and it’s all official. And then I just walk in and I’m like Hey guys I’m here to play video games."

WWOS got a behind-the-scenes look at their Esports training (Nine)

With a new centre comes new adjustments, Direwolves have started implementing similar training regimes to that of a traditional sports player.

Nathan Mott, Direwolves CEO and Founder explains the importance of diet and mental health towards the players and how it affects them inside the game and out.

“We have coaches, we have psychologists there’s a nutritionist coming here thinking about diet,” Mott said.

“All these things, it’s all about making you feel really good outside the game to perform inside the game.”