Professional Esports Team Signs 13-Year-Old Fortnite Player
Team Secret announced on Wednesday the formation of a Fortnite team, which includes a 13-year-old player. The group includes four members who were signed to play Fortnite for the professional esports team, despite the popular game not being an official esport yet, according to ESPN.
Team Secret CEO John Yao said he expects Fortnite to become an esport, sparking the decision to build a team.
"Our guess is that Epic Games [publisher of Fortnite] is also going to announce something and get behind the esports scene," Yao told ESPN. "And so, before everybody else jumps in and all the good players get signed up, we wanted to make a preemptive strike."
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Two of the team's members come from Norway, while the others come from Latvia and the United Kingdom.
The most surprising team member is 13-year-old Kyle "Mongraal" Jackson from the UK. The teammates are 21, 20 and 17. Yao did not know Jackson's age when signing him.
"I actually had no idea he was 13 until the team told me," Yao told ESPN. "Because when we looked at some of the videos and we looked at their game play, it was not apparent. What immediately stood out to me was how mature he was, and he sounded just like one of the other guys."
Jackson began playing Fortnite last fall but first got into video games at nine years old. He had to have his parents's consent to sign to Team Secret and called the opportunity "a dream come true."
In some leagues players under the age of 18 cannot participate, but Yao said he expects there will be tournaments with no age restrictions.
While waiting for a professional Fortnite league to form, Team Secret plans to play in scrims and potential tournaments.
