Germany-based esports organization Berlin International Gaming (BIG) has launched a new talent promotion program called BIG SELECTA. The organization said in a release that this new “initiative aims to nurture young talents and establish the foundational structures for a successful esports career.”
BIG SELECTA aims to help young gamers enhance their skills through several programs including regular professional coaching sessions, workshops, intensive training, and personalized development plans. Those players who are determined to be “exceptional” will receive further mentorship from BIG’s professional players, coaches, and managers.
The initial program will concentrate on training youngsters in Counter-Strike 2, with plans to include other popular competitive games in the future. BIG added that there will also be collaboration with existing promotion programs, and noted that BIG SELECTA participants are free to pursue gaming careers with external clubs alongside their participation in the program.
“In the early 2000s, during the Counter-Strike 1.6 era, Germany had a pool of ten to twelve world-class players,” says Roman Reinhardt, chief gaming officer at BIG. “Today, the German market looks sparse. With BIG SELECTA, we aim to create healthy competition to bring out many talents rather than build a single dominant team for national competitions. We look forward to guiding the next generation of esports stars to success. Our goal is to effectively promote professional gaming in Germany and help young talents reach their full potential.”
The program will also provide financial support, planning and feedback, regular boot camps and events, media training, and professional guidance and support from BIG members.
On a related note, the BIG SELECTA talent team—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 on June 15. More details about the event and the program can be found at bigclan.gg.