OverActive Media hires former U.S. military personnel

OverActive Media, the parent company of Splyce and Overwatch League franchise Toronto Defiant, has hired two former U.S. Military & special operations personnel.

Pat Sauer and Tom Hall have both joined the company in an effort to give players a “mental and competitive edge” moving forward.

Sauer, retired Gunnery Sergeant of US Marine Corps has joined OverActive Media as the Senior Manager of its Performance System. Hall, a former US Army Ranger, has boarded the company as the Manager of Player Development; he spent the last four years working with, and advising, start-ups 

Chris Overholt, President and CEO of OverActive Media discussed the hires in an announcement: “We are thrilled and tremendously proud to be adding Pat and Tom to our organization. They’ve already started working with our players and coaches on issues such as stress management, communication systems, conflict resolution and decision making under extreme duress. The goal is to take the incredibly disciplined teachings of the special operations and apply those to how our teams train and perform both as competitive players, and outside the field of play as human beings.”

OverActive Media worked with Echelon Front Overwatch, a Special Operations Forces and Combat Aviation talent acquisition firm, on both of the hires.

Leif Babin, President of Echelon Front and Managing Partner of EF Overwatch commented: “We are excited to partner with OverActive Media to help build a competitive advantage over their competition. This is a decisive and smart move for an e-sports organization to bring in former Special Operations Soldiers, the very epitome of teamwork and combat-tested leadership, to help develop and enable teams to lead and win within. We think this is industry-leading and will no doubt serve as an advantage for all of their teams and players.”

In February, former Google and DAZN brand leads Mike Armstrong and Paulo Senra were announced as the latest additions to OverActive Media.

Esports Insider says: This is certainly something different in the esports space and, because of that, it’s a fairly unproven method. It’s clear that Splyce and Toronto Defiant will be taking development and teamwork very importantly moving forward and the proof will be in the pudding when it comes to the impact of these hires.

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