Wednesday, August 24, 2022

This is an attempt to normalize a horrible addiction


This gaming center is a training ground for internet athletes now dominating esports from suburban Chicago
How many men do you know that are gaming 8 to 14 hours a day? There is nothing glamorous about being lost in a digital playground all day long.

Inside Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills, gamers hone their craft in their hunt for college scholarships, prize money in the millions and pro careers.
By WBEZ Chicago
Aug 23, 2022, 6:00am CDT
By Isi Frank Ativie



Pablo Kinderman played video games on a nationally ranked high school team before turning professional.

Inside Hawthorn Mall in suburban Vernon Hills, the stakes are high as teenagers and young adults play video games at the BHOP Esports Gaming Community Center.

The gaming facility is a training ground for a group of internet athletes who are dominating electronic sports, a form of multiplayer video gaming that originated in the 1970s. They are vying for laurels such as college scholarships, prize money in the millions and even professional careers.

Jake Younan, 29, is among them. When Younan was 14, he watched his uncle play Counter-Strike, a first-person shooter video game series, which later led him to pick up a controller and turn this fervor into a career. So did a recent Vernon Hills High School graduate, Pablo Kinderman, 18, who began playing Call of Duty Black Ops 1 at age 9.

“Their mix of experience and talent makes them stand out from other players,” said gaming center owner Joseph Ho, who chose to name his business “BHOP” because it is short for bunny-hopping, a technique gamers use to move faster in a game.

Younan and Kinderman, who started gaming as a hobby and have transitioned into professional-level play, are among the next generation of players who aim to dominate electronic sports — and along the way, earn more respect for the field. This could be their year: Kinderman’s team will compete in a Toronto Valorant tournament on Sept. 23 for a chance to win $10,000. Younan’s team is currently ranked 9th in America and 42nd in the world.

“It’s really hard to view these players as athletes when they’re sitting in a chair,” said Sam Oanta, the owner of Ignite Gaming Lounge in Skokie. “There’s still a stigma with playing video games; definitely so in America. Less so in Southeast Asia where gaming culture is much more mainstream.”

Kinderman, who in high school played for an esports team that went on to rank among the top four in the nation, said he found it challenging to maintain a healthy balance between school and esports. Now, he wants to develop his professional gaming career while pursuing a job with the Vernon Hills Police Department.

“As long as I can have a good balance of both, that’s pretty much my main concern,” he said.

Kinderman tries to maintain a consistent sleep routine but, as a prolific gamer, must adjust to accommodate a packed schedule of matches and tournaments. Most days, he practices with his team. “The game is always changing; you have to always adapt to the game,” he said.

Younan started his professional career in his early 20s with a Canadian esports organization called eRa Eternity, making $800 monthly on a contract. He earned an esports scholarship to Robert Morris University in Chicago (now part of Roosevelt University) and retired from professional play for two-and-a-half years to focus on computer science studies but has come back to the game.

“I hadn’t taken anything seriously in terms of schooling,” he said. “I kind of just focused only on playing, and that was a big downfall on my end. But luckily enough, [Robert Morris] was able to give me a scholarship for what I was doing. That kind of helped put me back on track.”

The Maine East High School graduate starts his day with a 90-minute gym workout and spends hours a day practicing his aim on his first-person shooter game. He practices with his team for up to five hours a day, making a point to spend time afterward talking about mistakes and what the team can fix.

Like Kinderman, Younan has had to develop a regimen. The key to his routine? Healthy eating.

“When I would eat unhealthy, I felt like I would play 10 times worse,” he said. “So, I ended up switching my diet and how I maintain my body, which I felt like it helped me a lot.”

BHOP Esports Gaming Community Center operates out of Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills.


The esports industry is valued at $1 billion, with significant growth since 2020.

Professional athletes on traditional sports teams generate earnings through salaries and lucrative add-ons such as sponsorships and lending their name to well-established brands. Because esports can be live-streamed on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch, players can also take on brand sponsorships from companies like Xfinity who want the exposure. That helps supplement contract revenue and prize money.

But there’s a lack of structure in the industry and that makes it difficult to be a seasoned esports athlete, said Ho.

“There are esports athletes who do receive the credit they deserve and others that do not,” Ho said. “Many don’t receive more credit than they should because esports do not have an overarching organization like the NCAA, NFL, MLB or NBA.”

Overall, Younan said the sport’s image is starting to change.

“It’s been getting more and more respect and recognition which is good,” he said. “I just want to continue to see it grow.”

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