Team Liquid unveils gaming lab at Boys & Girls Club of Metro Los Angeles

Team Liquid on Wednesday unveiled an esports and gaming lab at a Boys and Girls Club of Metro Los Angeles location. The lab is part of Team Liquid’s initiative to provide high-speed internet and access to gaming opportunities for kids living in underserved communities.

A press release about the event indicated the center was located “within an internet desert and faces the uncommonly recognized challenge of accessing affordable, high-speed internet.”

Additionally, the esports org is planning to provide mentorship for the kids and introduce experiential learning opportunities to them, including an esports course in collaboration with NxtUp Esports.

Team Liquid CEO Steve Arhancet, Super Smash Bros. Melee player Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma and WNBA player and Team Liquid streamer Aerial Powers were on hand for the opening and ceremonial ribbon cutting.

Photo credit: Team Liquid

According to Arhancet, the gaming center would be instrumental to giving the kids “dreaming power” and opportunities they might not otherwise get.

Hungrybox is the perfect example of what those kinds of opportunities might lead to.

“The important thing about this kind of center right here is that when you have a way to explore those opportunities you can end up making career, life-changing decisions that you had no idea could ever be there,” he said. “I’m playing Smash Bros. for a living in a way because the Boys & Girls Club reminded me of how fun it is and what an escape it could be.”

Hungrybox recounted how he had begun regularly playing Smash at a Boys & Club near where he grew up in the suburbs of Orlando. He concluded his remarks saying that the next Hungrybox could very well be one of the kids who were in attendance for the unveiling.

Powers also said she attended a Boys & Girls Club when she was younger and spent most of her time at the center’s court, honing her skills as a basketball player. The WNBA champion playfully hinted that things might have been different had she had access to high-speed computers at her Boys & Girls Club.

Photo credit: Team Liquid

“We didn’t have access to something as amazing as the computer lab that Team Liquid has provided, and I bet if we did, I probably would have spent more time up there than probably on the court,” she said.

Powers went on to praise the opportunities that the kids at the center would have.

“Giving the opportunities to these children, you never know what can become of that, and that in itself is extremely, extremely powerful,” Powers said.

After the remarks, the kids in attendance got their first look at the new gaming center. The kids got to feel out the new Team Liquid-branded gaming chairs in the lab that’s equipped with 15 computers and interact with Hungrybox and Powers. Plus, the kids also got an up-close look at the trophy that was recently won by the org’s League of Legends team.

Lead photo credit: Team Liquid