‘It’s Just a Dream!’: Tyumen Teen's Esports Journey

Daniil Maskutov from Tyumen, who in March 2025 joined one of the largest and most popular esports academies, Virtus.Pro, shared how his year went after signing the contract.

Recall that we told the story of 14-year-old Daniil in the summer. The boy became interested in computer games, soon became a decent player in Counter-Strike 2 and started posting videos of his successes. The videos gained popularity, and professional esports players noticed him, inviting him to the youth team VP Future.

Explaining Unfamiliar Terms

Virtus.pro is a major Russian-speaking esports organization headquartered in Yerevan. The club was founded in 2003, and its players and teams participate in numerous tournaments. Virtus.pro is among the top 10 clubs in the world in terms of prize money won— approximately 20.5 million dollars.

Virtus.pro Future is an organization that seeks out young players to develop them into professionals and include them in the main team. Daniil is one of them.

A video summarizing the year was released on the Virtus.Pro channel. Over the past year, Daniil has been to Moscow and Belgrade, attended esports tournaments and training camps.

“I went abroad without my parents, and to a Counter-Strike tournament at that. It’s just a dream. As for the trip to Belgrade— it’s one of the most memorable events in my life,” says Daniil.

For 2026, the guy also has many plans— he wants to achieve higher results in the game. The Tyumen native finds motivation in the support of his mother and other close people— in past interviews, she emphasized that she understands her son and his aspirations.

However, upon joining Virtus.Pro, the boy also encountered haters. He had to learn to cope with a lot of hatred directed at him. After signing the contract, many people started writing nasty things— even friends.

“There were acquaintances, even friends, who said that I wasn’t up to this level, like, why did I go here. But it’s clear that they are now former friends, because such friends who envy you, I don’t need,” said Daniil in the video.

Previously, we told about a Tyumen resident who became the author of a popular YouTube blog about computer games and learned to earn money from it. Creating one video can take several weeks. What he talks about and how much he earns from the channel, was told here.