Early on a Friday morning, two men wake up for the day they have been waiting for. They both grab their gear to get ready: one grabs his basketball bag and gym bag filled with his jersey, water, and basketball shoes, while the other grabs his controller and bag backpack containing his jersey, water, gaming headset and game disc. Both are preparing for their biggest weekend ever, a tournament weekend. One of them will play Call of Duty in several matches in their category, progressing with their team to become champion and win $400,000. The other plays with his team to advance and become Champions and win a giant cash bonus. Both have spent the last few months competing with hundreds of thousands of people watching, traveling the world, finding new sponsors and training to become the best of the best. Although many people view sports as a physical effort for an individual or team, many professional athletes and esports professionals are incredibly similar. Gaming can be just as convenient a lifestyle as football. As an esports professional, you need to train between 8 and 12 hours a day in front of your gaming console or computer every day. The practice can be demonstrated in several ways for an esports team. They hold scrimmages with other teams to play a series of game modes and maps to determine who wins, sometimes continuing late into the night. Additionally, you can play small tournaments through a system called GameBattles. These tournaments can range from small daily tournaments to large weekend tournaments that can sometimes pay out around $1,500. To become a professional player in an eSport, you typically need to place in the top 16 in one of the major LAN tournaments hosted by Major League Gaming. Players compete in a league usually... middle of paper ......professional port by playing 3 matches, win or lose. Overall, the similarities shine between an esports professional and a professional athlete in many ways. Even though a professional athlete will have bigger companies as sponsors and bigger, better-paying contracts, that doesn't make them all different. They will both have sponsors, both will get paid to be the best of the best, both will train non-stop to become and stay the best, and both will have millions of people watching them play. Game environments are filled with intensity as fans watch in person, on television and online. The practice is grueling and the competition fierce, but the rewards are incredible. Travel the world, make enough money to live comfortably, make fans proud and do what you love. Being a professional gamer is just as practical a lifestyle as being a professional athlete..