The Silver Snipers Are A Pro ‘Counter-Strike’ Team Where Everyone’s Over 60

The world of eSports doesn’t currently have a lot of room for older gamers. Most of those who go pro do so in their teens and peak in their early 20s. If you’re still competing in your late 20s, you’re considered to be on the older end of the spectrum.

There’s a reason for this, and a lot of it comes down to reflexes. As you get older, your reflexes generally turn to ass and you get a little worse at video games. Not horrible, but no longer good enough to play in the big leagues.

But there’s a new Swedish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) team flipping the bird to all that bullshit. They’re called the Silver Snipers and they’re all over the age of 60.

Typically, those who watch eSports are quite young. No surprises there. The Silver Snipers – sponsored by Lenovo – were assembled in an attempt to broaden the sport’s audience and were even coached by former CS:GO pro TommyPottiIngemarsson, who has worked as a team manager since retiring from playing.

Ingemarsson, who also mentors newcomers in the competitive gaming scene, says it’s important to be welcoming to all. “We want everyone to be involved,” he told The Verge.

But the biggest challenge by far was training the team of seniors, who had little to no experience with video games at all. The Silver Snipers had just three weeks before they were to compete in a tournament. Three weeks to learn, not only winning strategies, but simply how to aim, shoot and recognise who their opponents are.

But Ingemarsson says the team took it all very seriously. One of them even printed out copies of the CS:GO keyboard layout so her and her teammates could memorise them. “They actually were really passionate about it,” he said.

They even came up with their own nicknames. Wanja Godänge, 63, was “Knitting Knight,” Bertil Englund, 81, was “Berra-Bang,” and Monica Idenfors, the youngest of the group at 61, became “Teen Slayer.”

Teen. Slayer. Needless to say, they’re not here to fuck spiders, folks.

When the tournament rolled around, the old Silver Snipers didn’t fare so well, but they did manage to win a round in which Knitting Knight bagged herself three headshots. You bloody beauty. But most importantly, the team say the response from the gaming community has been “so positive and warm”.

Ingemarsson plans to offer free weekly lessons at Stockholm‘s Inferno Online gaming centre for other seniors interested in delving into the world of competitive gaming. The Silver Snipers are currently organising a regular training schedule for 2018 and are even considering moving into other games in the future.

It’s pretty rad to see eSport’s rise in popularity, particularly among those not traditionally into gaming. More seniors’ teams, please.


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