NiP has unveiled its talent program which will work on scouting, recruiting, and supporting a new generation of players together with the Swedish CS:GO tournament series Elitserien. After each season of Elitserien, two to three players that stand out will be added to the “Path of a Ninja” program, which aims to lower the gap between grassroots and professional CS:GO.

The players will be selected by a jury featuring Potti, a member of the original Ninjas in Pyjamas team and co-founder of the organization, as well as the team’s current coach Björn “⁠THREAT⁠” Pers, their COO Jonas Gundersen, and Area Academy’s Frederik “⁠JAEGARN⁠” Andersson.

THREAT will help select the players for the talent program

Jonas Gundersen, NiP‘s Chief Operating Officer and a former CS 1.6 professional himself, sees the benefits of academy teams and six-player rosters, but points out there is a step before that which their project aims to help with: “We see the need to support the underlying ecosystem and provide ways into a potential academy team in the future”.

Potti, the CEO of the company behind the Elitserien, Area Academy, adds that this project feels like “a full circle” as “the reason we became so successful during my first session in NIP 20 years ago is because we picked up young talents who we saw huge potential in”.

The Svenska Elitserien Fall 2020 season will conclude the upcoming weekend, with four teams still in competition, including Max “⁠quix⁠” Lindkvist‘s Lilmix and DreamHack Open November attendees flowskola.

NiP‘s project makes them the latest Nordic organization to put emphasis on nurturing young talent. North have unveiled their long-term talent development strategy and partnership with Danish team AGF in September, while Astralis followed by launching their development program in November.

Source: https://www.hltv.org/news/30759/nip-announce-path-of-a-ninja-talent-program