[x5_dot]

It is my pleasure to introduce to Team Exile5 and to you, the community, our new StarCraft Academy. This is something we have considered for a very long time but have never been able to execute. Until now.

The Academy Manager will be Eugene "KingSlayer" Astuto, who has been instrumental in bringing this idea to fruition. Its been very exciting to see him at work, bringing enthusiastic talent into this team, and I know he will continue to handle himself with a high level of professionalism and dedication.

In sad news, our long-standing StarCraft Division Manager, Alex "Bard" Welford, has had to step down completely due to his commitments to university. We have known Alex for a very long time (Team Mastermind, anyone?) and he has served his time on Team Exile5 with distinction. A lot of work occurs behind the scenes which the community, and often most players in the team, are unaware of. The effort that Bard has put in has allowed x5 to be what it is today and for that we are extremely thankful. Thank you, Alex, for the good times and the tough times. Good luck in the future!

In light of Alex's departure, we felt that Eugene was in a perfect position to also take up the mantle of x5's StarCraft Division Manager. He has shown that he is more than capable of handling the tasks required of the position. We know he'll represent x5 well in times to come.

Now, onto the StarCraft Academy!

The Academy is an opportunity for players based in Australia and New Zealand to take their Starcraft 2 game to the next level. We’ve selected our first batch of academy recruits based on not only the promise they show, but also their attitude, dedication to the game and their commitment to improving.

This is an opportunity for players who are passionate about Starcraft 2 to forge a path in eSports. Exemplary recruits will be promoted to to the active Team Exile5 roster. And yes we’ll be constantly on the look out for more recruits. Feel free to contact KingSlayer if you think you have what it takes.

The Recruits:

Josh ‘Runamok’ Mcmillan (Terran)
Stephen ‘Arrival’ Kung (Zerg)
Andrew ‘Namakaye’ Gosney (Protoss)
Matthew ‘grimZ’ Grimes (Protoss)
Cameron ‘Yours’ Foster (Zerg)

We feel that these guys have some natural talent. With the right guidance and continuous training, we hope to give them the best possible opportunity to break through to that next level of competition.

If you don’t know these guys, never fear. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be posting our Q&A sessions with each of our new recruits where we get find out some more about them.

The Coaches:

Jared ‘PiG’ Krensel
Juno ‘JunO’ Kwon

PiG needs no introduction. He will be conducting fortnightly group coaching sessions with our academy recruits. In between coaching sessions, he’ll be laying out a training agenda for each recruit to help them overcome any particular obstacles that they may encounter from time to time.

JunO has impressed us with his in depth strategic knowledge of the game. He is one of the most passionate people we’ve come across when it comes to Starcraft 2 and he is well respected in the community. JunO will be conducting training sessions in between PiG’s fortnightly coaching.

So welcome the new recruits. It’s been great to see everyone incredibly enthusiastic about this initiative. We’re really excited to see where this leads to. I’m sure you’ll be seeing and hearing more of these guys in the very near future.