In an exciting move to foster new talent and strengthen their competitive edge, ITB has officially announced the formation of their new Counter-Strike 2 academy team. This initiative marks a significant step in the organisation’s ongoing commitment to nurturing emerging talent and securing a robust future in the highly competitive landscape of esports.
Having previously announced the project back in 2022, fans were left disappointed. This was most likely due to the funding issues that the whole of the UK CS scene has experienced, and with a new name sponsor, ITB make good on a two year old promise.
After the organisation’s successful run at the BLASTtv Paris Major, Into the Breach did establish an alternative to an academy called the Pipeline. This initiative saw players sign a contract to join ITB’s Pipeline where the aim was for them to develop their talent and be available as a stand-in for Into the Breach’s main roster. UKCSGO interviewed one of ITB’s owners Sam Macedonio about the project at the time.
5 players wasn’t enough so we signed 5 more.
Welcome ITB CS Academy
@sk1ttcs
@hfah272
@AdrieNcs_
@Klameczka95
@yukit0ro
@fyl0_cs (M)#UpTheKnights pic.twitter.com/nmXGqhMkXp
— ITB.SHUFFLE Esports (@ITBesports) July 11, 2024
Leading the Academy Team will be Elliot “stoick” Meccano-Thomas, a seasoned analyst having previously worked alongside Endpoint, Apeks, 9ine and Entropiq. Joining stoick will be the previous Thunderflash roster.
This versatile squad has experienced various levels of success, most notably of which having won the Polska Liga Esportowa 2024: Split #1. Having tasted prior successes at a lower level, this combination aims to capitalise on their good form and drive further victories.
When asked about the team’s and his own goals, stoick responded:
I’m aiming to take all the leadership skills I picked up working under my previous coaches, guys like enkay_J mithR and Rejin, and use them to help these lads, who are all very young and haven’t had a coach before, to become better professionals in essence. We’re currently just working on having more structure and finding ways to improve the depth of our map pool and I want to push the players to think more intricately about the game.
We have goals in mind, we want to get back to playoffs in Advanced and to make a run there, as well as to make some deep runs in HLTV tournaments to put the guys on show a bit.
For me personally, it’s about getting these guys to become true professionals and to enhance their individual talent. Academy rosters exist in this ‘revolving door’ space, where my job is to make these guys the best they can so they can move forward to greener pastures.
I didn’t pick the team, which is a bit odd, but to be honest I wouldn’t have it any other way. Thunderflash and Klameczka picked some fiery individuals to fill this roster, so it’s my job to take that and funnel their passion into some real camaraderie and professionalism.
Into the Breach Academy are currently:
Kamil “Klameczka” Męte
Szymon “sk1tt” Rogoziński
Oskar “hfah” Wroński
Adrian “AdrieN” Mucha
Vitalya “yukitoro” Protas
Elliot “stoick” Meccano-Thomas (coach)
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