On 4th December 2020, Ninjas In Pyjamas revealed their plans regarding a new talent project for the up and coming players from Sweden’s professional Counter Strike : Global Offensive scene. Today they have launched it under the banner, “Young Ninjas”.
The Swedish organization has announced Erik “ztr” Gustafsson as the first member of their “Young Ninjas” project. The 17yo prodigy previously played under the banner of KPI, a Spanish team before bagging this opportunity. He also represented Prima eSports in the Elitserien cup and ESEA Advanced.
On this roster update, NiP’s COO Jonas Gundersen added,
There’s great talent out there and I am very excited to already have Erik on board to spearhead the project. A great guy with an incredible work ethic and mindset. Excited about seeing the team evolve and compete, as we continue to add the final pieces.
As mentioned above, it is believed that this project will foster a new generation of Swedish CS:GO players. They will be backed by Area Academy where the latter will assist them in scouting and recruiting the players for the same. On the basis of their statistics at the Swedish CS:GO tournament series Elitserien’, two to three players will stand a chance to join this project. NiP on their website have decided to bring in former Counter-Strike 1.6 professional Fredrik “JAEGARN” Andersson, Head of Education at Area Academy to carry on the proceedings for the Young Ninjas.
Amidst of these updates, Mr Jonas Gunderson continued with,
The recent season of Elitserien really made waves. It truly warms my heart to see how far CS:GO has evolved in all the Nordic countries, especially within the grassroots, so it only makes sense to commit even more at this point. A guy like Fredrik has been around forever, and the work with Area Academy just makes for the perfect skill set to lead this project for us. The passion for youth development in him is great to feel.
