Posted On : January 12, 2022 By : Tyler Gallagher | Read article at AUTHORITY MAGAZINE

The esports market size is now more than a billion dollars. Teens and even children as young as 6 can now earn hundreds of thousands of dollars competing in esports. What does one have to do to succeed as a player in esports? What are the challenges and opportunities that pro gamers face? What does the esports lifestyle look like? How is it similar to traditional athletics, and how is it different?

In this interview series, called 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In esports, we are interviewing professional gamers, esports coaches, esports tournament organizers, and executives from gaming companies who share lessons from their experience about the “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In esports.”

As part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview Josh Hafkin.

Josh Hafkin is the founder and CEO of Game Gym. Before founding Game Gym in 2018, Josh worked for video game publisher Bethesda Softworks and launched GEICO’s esports program. Josh is also a member of the Children’s National Corporate Advisory Council in 2021.

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Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to ‘get to know you’.  Can you tell us a bit about your background and your backstory?

I started off in traditional sports and was a super energetic kid. I got into swimming and swam all through high school and college. I had a fairly successful career, even winning an ACC championship and qualifying for the 2008 and 2012 Olympic trials. In the background, I always loved games, and my Gameboy would be my companion on long trips. When I finished my athletic career, I thought I was gonna get into traditional sports, but I found an opportunity to get into video game marketing and took it. Ever since then, I’ve had the opportunity to work in a world that fuses my love of video games, sports, and competition.

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