By Paige Bright
Herald Intern
Valhallan E-Sports Training provides gamers of all ages with the opportunity to enhance their skills and to play against one another. Dani Kelsey of Valhallan’s Altamonte Springs location brings the community together, one game at a time. “Even though we’re in a digitally connected, always online world, it really comes down to being able to connect,” Dani said. “I wanted to create a space where we could still connect in person over these shared passions.”
Valhallan E-Sports offers several different games and hosts events, including parents’ night out, gaming nights, and weekly training for kids hoping to join competitive e-sports teams. They also offer a homeschool series, providing “academic enrichment for those that don’t go through traditional school,” Dani said. Valhallan additionally hosts birthday parties, workshops, and field trips. Home to around 21 PCs and several TVs running a variety of games all at the same time, reliable internet is one of the biggest components keeping the fun up and running.
“We’ve been Spectrum customers since day one,” Dani said. “When we were looking at doing our buildout in our facility, we looked at a lot of different options. Spectrum was not only the best price, but they were ready to hop on and get us connected.” Alongside casual and competitive gaming, Valhallan also teaches broadcasting to guests with an interest in streaming gameplay, requiring top-notch, high-speed internet. “In the almost 2 years since we got connected and have been up and running, I think I’ve been down for maybe a total of 30 minutes,” Dani said. “Even when the entire area around us was out for 5 days, I think, without power, we were up, and we had internet.” Along with the support Spectrum already provides for Valhallan, a new product being released will assist in keeping high-speed internet, even when service might be out.
“We’re going to have this new product called Invincible Wi-Fi, where if the power goes out, it’s a battery that will allow you to be connected to the internet for 8 hours,” Patrick Paterno of Spectrum said. “So, it’s obviously important with what Dani does, but also anybody that’s, you know, elderly, sick, or needs internet, will be able to connect within an 8-hour time frame.” Invincible Wi-Fi provides 5G internet for up to 8 hours for at-home and business use and is able to support over 200 devices when activated. Staying online at the Valhallan center is a necessity, and with Invincible Wi-Fi, through storms or area-wide outages, the center will be able to do just that.
One of the biggest goals of Dani’s with Valhallan is to bring the community together. Giving kids a space to hang out and make connections through video games is what the community center is about, alongside teaching technology skills to kids who visit the center. “We have this high-tech corridor that surrounds Seminole County and all the way up to UCF and the Space Coast,” Dani said. Providing kids with the resources to not only be online in a safe way, playing games that are parent-approved and being monitored when chatting to other players, but also giving them a space to create friendships and work on team-building skills is exactly what Dani does. “Reaching folks and understanding what the value of this community gaming center is important,” Dani said. “Yes, they can just do that at home. The part that’s been a little bit of an uphill battle is, yeah, it’s not about the gaming. It’s about everything that comes with it.”
Valhallan Wekiva Springs is located at 990 North State Road 434, Suite 1192, Altamonte Springs. For more information on Valhallan, visit www.valhallan.com or call (407)-900-0965.
