It's with an incredible amount of pride (and slight degree of trepidation) that I compose these words. I'd like to think every serious Professional Organization dreams of the day they can have their own training facility. It's not only a huge boon for the players of the organization, but a significant centralization of the organization as a whole. For us, it's been a project in the works since the inception of our organization that has finally come to fruition. I know I speak for everyone in the organization when I say we're all excited to kick off 2013 by opening the doors to our new facility.
Team Owner, Brandon "cAdama" Altman, had some words to share on the opening of the facility as well.
After many months of planning and coordination, I'm pleased to finally say that the Clarity Gaming Training Facility is open and currently in use. One of our core focuses at Clarity is to ensure that all of our players have the best environment, tools, and help to succeed in their careers. I see this step as essential to ensuring the success of our pro-gamers to compete internationally with the best of the best. As wonderful as it was sharing my house with SungYong and ManHyeok, I'll sleep much better at night (both figuratively and literally) now that they're in the Training Facility with much better living conditions.
Located in Hampton Bays, New York the Clarity Gaming Training Facility aims to provide comfortable lodging for all of our full-time players in order to alleviate the stress of day-to-day life and allow greater focus on their primary interest: StarCraft 2. With the ability to house up to ten players comfortably at any time, we can not only ensure a high level of support for the players, but also an environment in which to foster growth both individually and as a team.
The location is just remote enough to offer complete seclusion from the outside influences of the world, but not enough to completely negate ease of travel (both foreign and domestic). Likewise, the house features a full kitchen (for unboxing of take-out brought home by management) and laundry facilities, as well as many other amenities (including a swimming pool).
Despite the official announcement today, our first pair of players have already moved into the house and set up shop. Both ManHyeok "cJookTo" Jo and Sung Yong "cYong" Hong are now full-time residents in the Training Facility. They are planned to be joined by more members of the team in the coming weeks.
We asked both SungYong and ManHyeok to share some thoughts after their first week in the house, and how things are coming together.
Yong:
It's been 5 days since I've arrived at the teamhouse, I've been waiting for this for so long. It was so much bigger than it seemed in the pictures, and the interior was great. The house gets great sunlight on all four sides, with a grand view of the ocean through the balcony. We've been shopping home supplies to fill its empty atmosphere. We heard there are 3 additional members joining the team house, so that should do it for us.
JookTo:
We've been here for 5 days, and it still feels pretty empty because there are only 3 of us and the house is just huge. No complaints so far, we're just running around buying stuff for the house, making it homely. We'll be having 2-3 more people within the next few days. Once we get enough people rolling in here, it'd be the most ideal practice space.
To keep a closer eye on our players in the future, you can follow the team, and the progress and travels of the players on the following sources:
Website: ClarityGaming.com
Twitter: @Clarity_Gaming
Facebook: Facebook.com/ClarityGaming
Twitch: Twitch.TV/Clarity_Gaming
Youtube: YouTube.com/ClarityGamingSC2
You can also expect to see our next Bi-Weekly Wrap-Up at the end of this week (our first of 2013!) for more up-to-date information on the rest of the team!
I'm also more than happy to field any additional questions regarding the Training Facility either in this thread, or via my personal Twitter (found below). For inquiries of a more direct/lengthy nature, you can contact me via Skype (VirgilSC2).
Thanks for reading, and we hope you cheer for us in this new year!