TOP Spring Edition

The Autumn Edition of the Talent Development Programme is almost upon us. That is why it is so good to look back on the past months in which H20 Esports Campus, together with numerous partners, organised the first talent development programme in the Netherlands for gaming talents (H20 Esports TOP Program) has executed.
In The Netherlands we have enough top sporters running around and also in the field of esports there's enough talent running around. However, often the right guidance is lacking in the beginning of someone's career in esports. For this reason H20 has set up the Talent Development Program (TOP) in which nine talented gamers with the ambition to become professional esports players are coached by professionals from the esports and sports world over a period of four months.

Talents

Ambitious talents had to submit videos with their motivation and current skills in a game of their choice in the run-up to the TOP track. In the end, out of more than one hundred applications, we selected nine talents that we, in cooperation with our partners, started working with in the spring.

The first batch of TOP talents are: Sven Gerritsen (League of Legends), Thymo Gans (Fortnite), Boyd Veenstra (Valorant), Ties Winkel (Valorant), Ryan Yap (League of Legends), Saharat Yimpra (Fortnite), Stef Keuken (Rocket League), Rover Stolte (Fortnite) and finally Tim Rolfes (Simracing).
These talents have all successfully completed the TOP track despite many challenges, setbacks and sometimes confrontational discussions. 

H20 Esports TOP Program

The Talent Development Programme was divided into four weekends over a period of four months. Each weekend focused on a different aspect of the professional esports world. There is a lot more to a professional esports career than just being good at one specific discipline. 
Weekend 1: Get to know yourself
The first weekend of course served as an introduction to the course. The talents were tested on their personal fitness and responsiveness. In addition, they were given workshops on the importance of a good night's sleep and how to make the best use of their energy.
Weekend 2: Consciously out of your comfort zone

The second weekend was all about pushing their own limits by remaining calm in an ice bath using the Wim Hof breathing method, condition and strength training in the early morning and 'gaming under resistance'. In addition, the talents were given a history lesson by Dutch esports legend Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager and were given a presentation on the importance of proper nutrition.

Weekend 3: Your own behaviour towards others
The third weekend was all about building a good professional foundation. The TOP talents got presentations about the qualities a professional esporter should have, which legal rights an esporter has and how they can create and promote their own brand name. In addition, they received personal training from professional esporters in their respective games.
Weekend 4: Putting your experiences into practice
During the fourth and final TOP weekend, the focus was on the path after the Talent Development Programme. They had to make a plan for the future and they were tested again on their responsiveness. In addition, at the end the talents were interviewed about their experiences and received their own esports jersey with the TOP logo and their own name. 
 

Testimonials

Tim Rolfes, Simracing TOP talent: "The workshops during the TOP programme were really fun to do. In the beginning I sometimes wondered what the point of this was, but eventually I noticed that these workshops and training sessions, among other things, made me feel better and I gained more concentration while gaming."
Stef Kitchen Rocket League TOP talent: "I have gained a lot from the TOP programme. I am a lot calmer now because of all the breathing exercises and anti-stress workshops and I also suffered a lot from stage fright and I have overcome that quite a lot, if I do say so myself. I shouldn't really persuade anyone to take part in the programme, because it really speaks for itself. You learn so much here, it's almost unbelievable. The atmosphere here is really great!
H20 Project Manager Tobias Zevenhoven: "This unique group of TOP talents have all proven themselves during the programme. It is really cool to see how these participants have developed. Despite the fact that each had their own game, there was a good atmosphere in the group and they all got along very well."

Partners

The TOP programme would be nothing without the help of our many partners and sponsors. We would therefore like to thank each partner and sponsor individually.
Talent Academy Group (TAG), under the guidance of former professional footballer Dirk Marcellis, helped us with the coaching of the talents and TAG was also responsible for a large number of workshops. BodyResults took care of the physical measurements of our talents at their location in Volendam. Senaptec tested our talents on aspects like reaction time, hand-eye coordination and depth perception.
Rowan Stroo of SEG gave a presentation on building a successful esports career and Remco Wortel of Vissers Legal gave a presentation on the legal side of esports. Mahdi Nasrallah of esportscoaching.nl and social media manager of Ajax esports gave a course on promoting your own brand through social media.
Sports psychologist Jan Sleijfer of NLsportpsycholoog gave presentations about breathing and stress. Damn Good Nutrition provided the drinks, but also presentations on important nutrition and Grenade provided the energy bars that our talents could grab for free.
Stanno provided the sportswear and Gladiator provided the gaming chairs at H20 Esports Campus. Garmin has provided the Garmin Instinct Esports Watches to the TOP talents and interested people can buy the Garmin Instinct Esports Watch with discount via h20.gg/garmin-instinct-esports-watch/.
We would also like to thank our game trainers: Dion "FASHR" Derksen for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Valorant, Floris Wijers for simracing and Frank Bastik from Twaanlab for Rocket League.

Besides that we would like to thank everyone who paid attention to the first TOP track in any way and we will see you at the TOP Autumn Edition in September!