Team Vitality has officially announced the creation of Vitality Academy, a new developmental Counter-Strike roster. The organization revealed the complete five-player lineup and the coaching staff that will lead the project.
Vitality Academy roster
The newly formed international team consists of the following players and staff:
- 🇫🇷 Thiebault “Katkame” Ulysse: AWPer
- 🇷🇴 Gavrilut “lucaZ” Luca: 17 years old
- 🇺🇦 Kirill “Dafra1D” Polieiko: In game leader
- 🇪🇪 Aleks “Reqqen” Frolov: Rifler
- 🇸🇰 Patrick “patrenzo” Hauer: 17 years old
- 🇪🇸 Pablo “VdaK1NG” Escobar: Coach (Transitioning from his previous role as an analyst for the main roster to focus entirely on the academy team)
Project objectives and strategy
Following the announcement, Team Vitality Co-Founder Fabien “Neo” Devide joined a Twitch live stream to provide further details about the organization’s approach to the new roster.
Regarding the primary goals for the young team, Devide provided direct insight into their tournament strategy.
When you are 15-16 years it is most important to have fun and enjoy and get as much experience as possible. We will try to get invited to events like DraculaN events and fight against top tier-2 and tier 1 teams. So that is what we are looking for.
Addressing the roster’s international makeup and the decision not to build a fully French lineup around local AWPer Katkame, Devide clarified the organization’s scouting priorities while confirming they still want to support the domestic scene.
It is not a priority for us. But in the academy we would like to create the oppourtunity for the future players in France, that there is a place for them because it is hard to get on the main roster at the moment. It is not the main factor that players needs to be French.
Main Roster Integration and Structural Influences
The academy team is built to function alongside the primary Team Vitality roster, with a direct pipeline for substitutions established from the beginning.
Our academy players can sub-in if there a need for it on the main roster. lucaZ will be the first one that will be registered as an official sub.
When discussing the organizational structure of the academy, Devide noted that they are looking closely at successful competitors, though they will not replicate every approach exactly.
It will not look like Spirit’s model with several teams. But we are a massive fan of what MOUZ and NAVI, and also Spirit have done with their academy teams. We have to learn from what they have done.
He also reiterated the organization’s overall dedication to the game, noting that the primary roster’s success gives them a strong foundation.
We are committed to Counter-Strike. The first team has proved themselves.
Negotiations with dupreeh
During the broadcast, it was also revealed that the organization had been in discussions with Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen regarding a role within the academy project. The two parties were in talks for a month and a half, but they were ultimately unable to reach an agreement.
You can see the stream with Neo here.
