How Virtus.pro Academy works from the inside: talent scouting, contracts, structure, the promotions of tO0RO & b1st, player development, staff and media work.
“Our results speak for themselves” — an interview with the head of Virtus.pro Academy
How is the Virtus.pro Academy structured from the inside? An interview with the head.
As a fan of the Counter-Strike esports scene, it’s impossible not to notice how much the influence of academies has grown in recent years. If once talents were found via acquaintances and later via FACEIT, now it seems almost impossible to break into tier-1 without going through a youth setup.
We know a lot about the stars raised by academies, but far less about the people behind them and the processes inside. To lift the veil for our readers, Esports.ru spoke with Anton Sayapin — head of Virtus.pro’s youth program in Counter-Strike.
He spent years building the structure of VP.Prodigy and VP.Future, and he has plenty to share about how it all works. Enjoy!
From basketball to esports
Your media presence is fairly recent. Tell us more about yourself: what did you do before Virtus.pro and how did you end up in your current role?
I was a professional basketball player, and at some point my “retirement,” so to speak, came. The question was what to do next; I started looking for work and it so happened I joined Virtus.pro.
Did you aim specifically for an academy leadership role? Or was it more like Nikita Lutov’s case — joined in one position and later became head of esports development?
No, I didn’t become a head right away. I started at the very bottom as an admin assistant handling document flow. Six months later, Sergey Glamazda [VP CEO 2019–2022] entrusted me with the VP.Prodigy manager role. For a while I held two positions: admin assistant and manager of the academy lineup.
After about half a year, Nikolay [Petrosyan] suggested I fully take over the academy lineup, and I became head of Prodigy. Step by step I grew into leading the entire youth program.
You mentioned basketball. If I recall, before 2021 another basketball player worked at VP — Ivan Lazarev. Did your paths cross?
The basketball world is small, so yes — we’ve known each other a long time, since school days. We played as kids and often crossed paths. At Virtus.pro there was a period when he was Dota 2 sports director. Back then the office was smaller, and we worked there together with the rest of the staff.
What’s a typical workday for the head of Virtus.pro Academy? Mostly office or remote? More contact with players or with leadership: coaches, analysts, managers?
I’d say 50/50 between global leadership and management. I worked as a team manager for a long time and old habits remain: tracking tournaments, talking to TOs and players when issues arise. Also communicating with my reports — coaches, analysts, psychologists. I prefer the office because other departments are here; it’s easier to talk in person than via messages or calls. I also discuss a lot with Nikolay [Petrosyan]. It’s more convenient live.
Contracts and competition for talent
How does a kid join Virtus.pro Academy? How involved do parents need to be?
Since we’re mostly talking about 12–13-year-olds, when they receive a document request for a contract, parents naturally have questions: who’s writing, what documents are needed? They get worried and reach out to me; we explain all the nuances. Usually after the first call the questions end, and then we communicate directly with the kids. Overall, it’s like standard parent-school communication.
When you sign a young player for the first time, do you use a trial contract or go long-term right away?
There’s no point in a trial contract. The testing period is enough to understand if a player fits — it can be a day, a week, a month; during that period we don’t sign anything. We sign only those we are sure about — that reflects our belief in the player.
Are there enough tools in esports to find and select talent, or is scouting still raw?
Compared to traditional sports, there’s practically no scouting in esports. There are no schools that develop players for years, so there aren’t strong scouts or agents and there’s no market structure. The search is hard. The only adequate platform is FACEIT, but it’s 13+ only — you lose a large share of potentially interesting younger players. Some clubs start “getting clever”: we offer a contract, and a couple of hours later other clubs call the kid to lure him away. Where were they before? Why didn’t they find him themselves? That shows there’s essentially no scouting in other clubs. Right now we probably have the deepest process.
So academies do compete for talents — that’s not just rumors?
Yes, there’s competition among academies. If that happens, it means we’re doing something right. We never restrict players from taking parallel trials elsewhere. If we like a player and he’s unsure or wants to trial with another club, we say “OK, go take a look and decide.” Most pick us because they see who will coach them, who they’ll play with — and our staff is often more qualified.
Other clubs often say “we forbid you from trialing anywhere else,” even before any contract is signed. Kids immediately ask why. And they’ll still go — the forbidden fruit is sweet.
Have there been moments when you regretted giving players that freedom?
Sure, that’s more of a management question — who offers what. Salaries in academies have evened out (partly thanks to us raising the bar). Then it’s about extra perks — gear, desk, chair, or help with life issues.
But not every club can offer more. OK, you pay salary — but I don’t know any academy except Virtus.pro where the entire academy structure of 3–4 rosters comes to bootcamp. We recently held a summer bootcamp and brought in 12–13-year-olds; on the next break a 14-year-old roster is coming. Not only Prodigy bootcamps — we try to bring everyone to see them live and give a development push. No “special talents” playing from home — everyone arrives and proves themselves.
The academy system
How is VP.Prodigy fundamentally different from an online school with paid lessons?
The obvious thing: those courses are paid; with us it’s not just free — players get a salary. We also have connections with TOs; Prodigy gets invites via VRS points. We give access to the esports arena: more perspective and chances to get into a big org and a strong team. Courses are a starting experience; after them you need an academy. Even another academy will give much deeper CS understanding and chances.
What does a day look like for a VP.Future player? You’ve said the schedule revolves around school.
They come from school, do homework, then around 3–4 pm sit at the PC. The coach gives an hour–hour and a half of individual work to warm up. Then like seniors — prac, demo review — but shorter. Prodigy averages ~8 hours a day; Future schoolkids do 4–5 so they can attend school and handle chores.
OverDrive (Spirit scout) said they look at skill-to-discipline ratio first; sycrone (MOUZ NXT) said communication skills and family environment are key. What’s first for Prodigy and Future?
Skill is at the top. Then we look at team interaction. If a kid is conflict-prone or acts out, we might pass even if he’s very skilled — it can harm others. If we think we can help, we’ll sign with caveats and give a psychologist — sometimes the problem isn’t the kid but life or family circumstances.
Have you had cases where a player had issues, you took the risk, and fixed it?
Yes. One player reacted too sharply to feedback early on. We decided to work with him; after 3–4 months he perceived things differently. We saw progress, kept working, and overcame it. Now he handles criticism fine and performs well.
On promoting tO0RO and b1st
tO0RO moved up, then b1st to the main roster — long awaited. Were those one-offs due to main roster problems or a strategic course to promote from the academy?
I hope it’s permanent. The structure we have now started forming only in November last year. Our Prodigy roster was mostly bought out in 2–3 months [dwushka, KusMe, shady, xdENiSZERA, Something], and we had to urgently find players to keep the project going. Finding from scratch is hard, so we built a large academy structure. That’s how VP.Future appeared with four rosters. In under a year, two players went from Future through Prodigy to the main team. I hope the trend accelerates; even if our players don’t join our main roster, they’ll land well in at least tier-1.5.
We already have interest in several Prodigy players — things are getting on track.
About b1st’s path: he stood in for Prodigy in early 2024, and half a year later joined Prodigy. Was he already in Future back then?
Yes, VP.Future was just being formed and not yet announced — we didn’t have enough players, maybe one roster. He was under contract; a Prodigy player was loaned out, we needed to finish a tournament, so we brought our own guy to show himself and for us to plan development. We identified drawbacks and started fixing some right away. You must give players a chance to test themselves at a higher level. Now rokilan and lasfas are standing in for Prodigy — great experience. That’s how it was with b1st: we worked with him, and when the previous Prodigy roster left, he joined the new team.
He showed the most impressive growth among all players, approaching kyousuke’s numbers late in Spirit. What fueled that jump?
Credit to our coach and psychologist-analyst. The boys kept stopping one step from playoffs or certain tournaments. They were stuck. But since Vova (b1st) is deeply passionate and hard-working, he became the informal leader of Prodigy.
How did you feel after the hyped win over Team Liquid (RES Showdown 2)?
Only positive emotions. Most importantly, the guys were relaxed. Previously they kept thinking “this is the last game, HLTV, playoffs, VRS points” — again and again. This time they understood Liquid is tier-1, some things might not work, and without that internal pressure they played their best CS.
How does the promotion process from academy to the main roster work (e.g., tO0RO, b1st)?
Ideally, I inform the main team: here’s a player we (staff) believe in — please take a look, watch demos, play prac. Sometimes the main team asks if we have someone for a specific role; I give feedback and they decide. Initiative comes both ways, but now more often I come and say there’s interest in a player; I ask whether he’s considered for our main in the near future. Based on that, I decide whether he stays or moves to another org.
In 2025 there was negativity toward VP Academy: many players/rosters but no one promoted. You and Nikolay sometimes reacted harshly on social. Looking back, should you have ignored some of it?
I wouldn’t say it was “too harsh.” Earlier, yes, our players didn’t reach tier-1 teams often, though some did move to solid clubs and played at their level. There was a problem, and partly because of it we rebuilt the academy approach — hence the positive trend with two promotions. It helped us. Now some clubs start copying us — opening multiple youth teams and signing them on our terms.
We reacted sharply only when it became outright lies, like buyouts of 300–400k — which never existed. If there’s interest, we always try to help a player move for adequate sums. For example, when four of our players were bought at once — if we demanded the figures OverDrive named, they’d still be under our contracts. Maybe other academies have those numbers, but for us it makes no sense to hold players back. It’s a plus for us that we’ve raised a player who now performs elsewhere. As for hate, inside we treat it like: “dogs bark — the caravan moves on.” Let them rant. We do our job, and the results speak for themselves.
On player growth and the “getting younger” trend
You once noted that becoming a pro in esports isn’t much easier than in traditional sports. Many young players stay tier-2 or below. Why?
It’s a complex problem of a small market and weak scouting. A noticed player can “grow a crown” — emotional and psychological issues. He becomes the best in a closed group, which hurts his sporting growth; it’s hard to influence him because there are few alternatives. If the market were larger, clubs would have more options to bring him back down to earth. Not every club can afford multiple youth teams to rotate such a player without hurting others. So you keep a talented but problematic guy, and the development of the other four suffers.
What’s the academy’s philosophy? Develop for VP main or a universal base?
We take the broad approach. You can’t tailor everyone to the main roster — ideally those five don’t change every 6–12 months. For 30 academy players, “one comb” is wrong. We develop them so they can fit any structure and tactics. Young esports athletes learn fast; it’s not hard to teach CS understanding. How they use it depends on them and their skill. Thanks to that, tO0RO and b1st smoothly integrated into the main, and could’ve done so in any team with a different structure — they know what to do and what tools coaches need.
For a long time Prodigy lacked results because of this approach — we focused on educating players first. Once they absorbed it, results came: beat Liquid, won a tournament in Kazakhstan (MySkill Pro League). They learned to channel their skills correctly — hence victories.
There’s a trend at tier-1/2: because of strong academies and FACEIT grinders, big clubs replace slumping veterans with young grinders. Even Spirit couldn’t resist. Your perspective?
It was expected. Many good academies and talented youngsters who started in CS2 (not CS:GO) — they’re better adapted, didn’t need to re-learn mechanics. Hence the surge of talented youth. Other sports have the same: veterans play long, then in 1–2 years a wave of new players arrives — “time for the young.” That’s happening in CS; teams are getting younger fast.
Will this “replace with young talent” trend keep growing?
It won’t endlessly grow. There’ll be a peak: many young players will cement themselves in tier-1 for the next 5–7 years until the next youth boom. You don’t get the same number of geniuses every year. In CS it’ll be the same: now there’s a boom, but in a couple of years it’ll be hard to find someone more talented than this cohort. Otherwise in five years the skill ceiling would be so high you’d need to redesign the game.
Coaching staff, plans, and media
What’s the planning horizon? Do you sign players for 3–5–10 years?
The younger the player, the longer you want to sign — you don’t want a situation where you invest for years and the contract ends at a key moment. We try to sign as long as possible. That doesn’t mean bondage — life happens and VP is ready to meet halfway under adequate circumstances.
Do you have KPIs? Number of profitable sales or promotions to the main?
No. If you set KPIs like that, all work revolves around them, not development. You’d replace someone just to hit a metric. You could set KPIs around achievements, but not the format you described. I’m for trust with players; you won’t have it if you chase KPIs. Then players won’t trust you, word spreads, and no one wants to join.
Who forms the coaching staff — ex-pros or people from sports like you?
Only CS people — otherwise how will a coach explain the game? Usually former players who were IGLs — they have the best comms, understand rounds and team play. We take those who realize they’re working with CS and with kids. Kids in CS can be more complex than adults: they have child-specific issues on top. We try to hire captains who had young rosters and understood how to work with them.
We also have a former women’s team coach — besides CS and kids’ issues, there were women’s team specifics, which made it more complex. I’m glad we have such a specialist with multifaceted experience. We put a big emphasis on a coach’s communication skills. Sometimes a candidate knows CS perfectly but can’t work with kids — we part ways; our children’s psychological health is the priority.
There was news that Gospadarov joined your academy staff. How did that happen?
As we expanded Future, we needed stronger coach involvement — so we had to hire another specialist. We surveyed the market and found Gospadarov was a free agent. He had academy experience as a player, which fit us. After interviews and a trial, we offered a long-term collaboration.
Do you prepare young players for future media attention, including negative?
Before moving to the main roster we brief them on fan communication and what to ignore on social. We also work on this in the academy — we sometimes send screenshots of negative comments, explain how to treat them, and go through scenarios. We track behavior overall — if someone acts out on FACEIT or social, we do educational work about conduct. Usually after ~6 months they understand where to stay silent, not react, or block a hater — and how to interact with media.
Have there been guys you had big plans for and asked them to keep a lower profile?
Yes, of course. Some don’t see the boundaries. We try to explain how to communicate — what’s OK and what’s not — rather than just banning. Pure bans make little sense — sooner or later something will burst out.
In a recent story Spirit’s coach said Falcons tried to poach kyousuke despite a verbal agreement to join the main roster. Anything similar in your experience?
We’ve had players whose dream was to end up in another team even though our terms suited them. There’s little we can do — we arrange a mutually beneficial transfer. Sometimes a player wants to go where his friends are. That’s a big issue in esports: players often prefer friends over a team that offers more, moving to a lower level without salary and with less prestigious tournaments.
About Alexander “AquaRS” Kovalev: is he ready to IGL the main team, and how likely is that outcome?
It depends on Alexander and the current main roster. I believe in him; he can have a great career — if not at VP, then elsewhere (there’s outside interest). But it’s possible he’ll grow into our main. There’s also the recent VRS story — replacements must be gradual. His promotion depends on many factors: his form, whether we can move him up per Valve rules, and positional fit. Time will tell, but I’m confident he’ll be fine.
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