Player’s Own Voice podcast: Former CFL pro Konrad Wasiela tackles esports career

Like the activity titles themselves, esports athletes can make stunning earnings and audiences. At the best degree, it is gaming in name only. Anything else about the pursuit of esports mastery is a difficult-nosed, significant company.

Elite esports players’ instruction regimens certainly rival those people of “actual environment” athletes. Toughness and harmony get the job done, hand-eye conditioning,  nutritionists, psych coaches, esports stars make use of all the earlier mentioned. It truly is challenging to stay clear of the summary that professional athletes are professional athletes, whether the rectangles they contend in are made of grass or glass.

Konrad Wasiela is uniquely suited to remark on the chaotic intersection of conventional and e-athletes. 

Formerly a CFL cornerback, Wasiela’s “occur to esports” moment was a take a look at to a reside gaming celebration. He walked into a soldout stadium, and saw 60,000 men and women cheering. Amazon experienced just paid out a billion bucks for “Twitch,” the recreation streaming support. Wasiela added up the mega hundreds of thousands that Intel experienced poured into this tournament, and took notice of Puma and Nike sponsorships in the room. 

He immediately solved to launch his individual organization to get in on the action. ESE Entertainment does many issues in the esports area, but it really is generally about pushing new players and audiences to egames.

Anastasia Bucsis, host of POV podcast, probes Wasiela on the numerous strategies esports are played and promoted by actual planet athletes, but Wasiela flips that problem: his fascination lies in the ways standard sports are starting up to depend on their digital counterparts. 

Simulators from esports are currently made use of closely by every single F1 driver and crew. As much more coaches and extra sports make the jump into making use of applications from esports in the locker area, sport film might be heading the way of the horse and buggy. And that’s just one particular way esports are modifying the recreation in authentic everyday living.

Esports are already spinning colossal sums of dollars. The consensus appears to be they have only just begun.   

There are transcripts of our podcasts for a hard-of-listening to viewers. To listen to Konrad Wasiela, Waneek Horn-Miller, Camryn Rogers, Bev Priestman, Allison Forsyth, Jason Priestley, Mimi Rahneva, Cito Gaston, Robert Parish, Aaron Brown, Kaylyn Kyle, Kurt Browning, Bianca Farella, Summer months McIntosh, Beckie Sauerbrunn or any of the attendees from previously seasons, go to CBC Listen or anywhere else you get your podcasts.