Former Goulburn High School student, Jake Sharwood-Glennie, is a professional esportsman.
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Jake, who plays League of Legends for Sin Gaming, started playing computer games as a little fellow with his family and graduated to online games.
League of Legends is a multiplayer online video game which is made of multiple characters possessing different abilities.
“I didn’t ever have the aim of becoming a professional gamer it is something that just happened,” he said.
He finished his HSC at TAFE last year and was picked to become a member of Sin Academy.
Now the 18-year-old lives in a team share-house in Burwood as part of his position in the academy.
They have a manager, team owner and people who look after their well-being. Part of their training regime includes gym workouts and eating healthy.
They train together and practice in the house where they have a special set up. Recently they were presented with new monitors and keyboards.
Jake’s gaming handle, the name used when playing online, is Rogue.
His team is made up of his coach Ben Encel known as Bencel who used to be a chess coach. Tommy Lee whose game name is Ryoma, Brandon Defina is Juves, Niship Doshi as Dhokla and Victor Huang as FBI.
On Saturday July 8, they returned to Sydney after competing in the Rift Rivals tournament in Vietnam. The tournament was broadcast on the TV esport channel.
The team has one set of keypads and mouses they practise with and another identical set for the competitions. The gear has to be checked to see that no one has downloaded any software to help them cheat before each game.
As part of the online competitions members of the team participate in photo shoots and when performing at big tournaments have makeup and special uniforms.
Cult sport figures in the game, Jake and his team play in regular weekly tournaments. It was through this competition they won the third spot in the Oceana Professional League (OPL) to compete in Rift Rivals.
“It was really amazing when we went to Vietnam, we were the third OPL team, which is from Australia and New Zealand,” he said.
“People over there knew us all by our handles and would come up to us and ask for our autographs. Gaming is much bigger over there than it is in Australia and top league players are treated like movie stars.
“The world wide audience for this competition was in the millions of viewers.”
On Sunday, July 17, Sin Gaming played Abyss Predator in the OPL competition and won 2-1. On Sin Gaming’s Facebook page, you can see the winning play.
“Backdoor Nexus, a stolen Penta, and a huge 2-1 win for us over Abyss Predator in the OPL - Oceanic Pro League” – Sin Gaming facebook page
