The Esports Performance Academy is partnering with the Center for BrainHealth to implement a novel performance initiative for esports players. A targeted group of EPA clients and students is participating in The BrainHealth Project, a research-backed training protocol to improve cognitive performance and strengthen overall brain health. The goal of the collaboration is to see how the brain health measures of esports gamers can be affected by these protocols for healthy brain practices, leading to their eventual implementation throughout the esports industry.
Few studies currently exist to provide a comprehensive understanding of players’ brain health and ways to maximize performance. Over 95 per cent of this study’s participants have collegiate, semi-pro, or professional experience in esports as a player or a coach, making this cohort a representative microcosm of high performers.
“We aim to change the paradigm of this industry to be proactive and preventive when it comes to players’ brain health. Overtraining leads to stress and burnout, and the brain health science championed by the experts at the Center for BrainHealth points to a better way to encourage top performance,” said Esports Performance Academy CEO Andrew Cooley.
A comprehensive focus on brain health offers a new approach to pro training. The BrainHealth Project protocols focus on various components of the brain’s health and fitness that are relevant to esports players – strategic attention (knowing what to focus on and what to tune out), reasoning and problem-solving, and innovation (developing new strategies to beat an opponent), among others.
“We are bringing to this collaboration our extensive experience working with top performers and people in high-stress environments, such as military special ops and first responders. By learning and adopting healthy brain strategies and techniques, esports players will be able to operate more efficiently and continue to improve their cognitive skills well beyond the average for their peers,” said Center for BrainHealth deputy director of programs Jennifer Zientz.
The Esports Performance Academy focuses on holistic player development and its goal is to increase the longevity of professional players in the industry. It has implemented the world’s first high-performance coaching certification for esports, which uses neuroscience to promote player mental and physical health. “The groundbreaking work that the Center for BrainHealth is undertaking will impact players around the globe by providing evidenced-based protocols to enhance player cognition,” said Cooley.