WHITBY, Ontario, Jan. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Valhallan Esports Training, the largest and fastest-growing youth esports franchise, has announced the opening of their first arena in Whitby. Located at 114 Dundas St E Unit 212, the location will celebrate its official grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday, January 15, 2024, at 1 pm EST.

The very first Valhallan franchise to open in Ontario, the arena will provide a space for competitive gaming for youth between the ages of 7 to 17 years. Players will be able to train and compete in esports competitions in top games such as Overwatch, Fortnite, APEX, Rocket League, and Valorant. Through coaching and team collaboration, the players also learn valuable life skills such as teamwork, communication, and leadership.

Players can enroll in monthly memberships which gives them access to weekly sessions. During each session, players will be mentored by coaches who will classify them into different skill levels while focusing on building teamwork, sportsmanship, and life skills. A specific curriculum will be designed for each player's skill level dedicated to teaching them the latest game updates, healthy habits, and technical skills.

The facility will also host esports themed camps and special events throughout the year inviting players to connect and have fun while fostering self-confidence, communication skills and leadership skills.

Manny Tiamzon, Owner of Valhallan Esports Training Whitby shares, “We are so excited to bring Ontario’s very first Valhallan Esports Training facility to the town of Whitby. We are looking forward to bringing the exciting world of esports to families in the local community while building a safe, inclusive, and fun environment for youth to compete, learn, and enhance their gaming abilities.”

About Valhallan Esports Training

Valhallan Esports Training brings education, life skills, and inclusive competition to the world of youth esports. Founded in Houston, Texas, and expanding globally, Valhallan Esports Training originated out of a belief that video games can be a means for enriching lives and creating community for young people. Valhallan players come to their local arena each week for coaching, training, and competition in a fun and safe environment. Players can learn more at www.arenas.valhallan.com/whitby-on-ca.

For further information, please contact: Manny Tiamzon at whitbyonca@valhallan.com

Juveria Zaheer used to watch “Jeopardy!” a lot with her family when she was a little girl. She followed Ken Jennings’ historical winning streak in 2004 and considers the late Alex Trebek as one of the most famous Canadians out there. Now, she’s competing in the Tournament of Champions.

Hailing from Whitby, Ont., the 41-year-old psychiatrist and associate professor’s journey on the trivia show actually started over a year ago. In that first episode, which aired in May 2023, she competed against Hannah Wilson, who defeated Zaheer during her initial appearance of her eight-game winning streak.

“She is just unbelievable, and the first half of the game, I was like, ‘Oh no, this is terrible.’ I felt my heart beating in my ears. I felt like I wanted to sink through the floor – nothing was going right,” Zaheer told CTV News Toronto.

“I think that because everything happened so fast, I sort of focused on learning as much as I could, learning as much content, but didn’t think as much about like, ‘What does this mean to me? And how is this going to feel? And how do I stay calm?’”

But, once that game was over, Zaheer didn’t lose hope – she started to prepare for the off-chance that she would get called back to the show.

“There was a part of me that thought like, ‘You know, Juveria, you played pretty well. Is there a chance they might ask you back?’” Zaheer said, adding she tried learning as much as she could in the interim.

“It’s such a once in a lifetime, or twice in a lifetime, opportunity that I thought, ‘If there’s a small chance I’m going to get called back for a Second Chance [Tournament], I’m going to be ready, and I’m gonna give it my all.’”

The mother of two said she read constantly, always pushing herself to learn about new things. And, it paid off. Last Halloween, she said she was called back to the show – something she was “extremely” excited about and now felt less scared for.

“When I got out there, I remember having this feeling come over me of like, you can win or lose your bearings but you’re doing the best you can. You’re being brave and you are having fun,” Zaheer said.

“My daughters were there, my two girls, and my husband were there, and it was the first time that they had ever seen me play and so I just remember thinking, ‘Be brave for your girls and show them what you can do.’”

Zaheer won, earning a two-day final total of US$70,800 (the highest score of all Second Chance victors). Plus, in her first game of the finals, Zaheer set three single-game highs for the season, including 32 correct responses and a Daily Double total of US$20,000.

After weeks of winning, Zaheer secured her position in the upcoming Tournament of Champions – which starts broadcasting this Friday – after winning the quiz game’s Champions Wild Card tournament and the US$100,000 prize.

“Everything happened really fast. My first episode aired on Dec. 20, and so before that, I had never won a game of “Jeopardy!”” Zaheer said. “I feel like I’ve been in Culver City more than I’ve been in Whitby, in a sense, in the last few months but it’s been such an adventure, for sure.”

While Zaheer has been excited by her second chance on the show, she said the most important thing is her representation on the screen and the example she sets for her two daughters, Hana and Zara.

“I think it was important to me to be able to represent for women and women of colour, who tend not to show up on the “Jeopardy!” stages often, and to represent for moms too,” Zaheer said.

“I tell [my] daughters that anything worth doing has a chance of failure. I lost on “Jeopardy!,” my brother was an amazing player but lost on “Survivor,” [my] daughters have seen two family members lose in front of millions of people, but what we hope it’s taught them is that anything worth doing is also worth failing at, and all you can do is be brave, be proud, and try your best.”

The Tournament of Champions starts airing Feb. 23 with Zaheer set to appear in the Feb. 29 episode.

Singer-songwriter and huge Magic: The Gathering fan Post Malone purchased the super-rare One Ring card after it was found in Whitby, Ontario, early last month.

Brook Trafton shared a brief video on TikTok of him meeting Post Malone and handing over the One Ring. Though the video didn’t disclose the amount Trafton sold the card for, comments under the video claim Post Malone paid $2.6 million (it’s not clear whether that was USD or CAD). However, that claim is unverified and may not be accurate.

When the card was first found, it was valued at $2 million USD (about $2.6 million CAD).

@brooktrafton When I found the One Ring, the first person who came to mind was @Post Malone. I have played MTG since I was a kid and obviously it would be amazing to keep this card. But for a guy like me, being able to sell it is life changing. I just really hoped it would go to someone who would appreciate it as much as I do. This is my dream come true, meeting Post Malone and him buying the One Ring card from me is literally a moment straight out of a fairytale. Post Malone @Magic: The Gathering you have changed my life. Things like this don’t happen to people like me, I guess it’s magic. I am forever grateful #postmalone #onering #oneofone #mtg #magic #mint #psa #card #magicthegathering #lordoftherings #trading #tradingcards #theonering #sauron #collector #edition #one #gandalf #tradingcardgame ♬ original sound – Brook Trafton

“I have played MTG since I was a kid and obviously it would be amazing to keep this card. But for a guy like me, being able to sell it is life changing. I just really hoped it would go to someone who would appreciate it as much as I do,” Trafton wrote in the description of the video.

Header image credit: Magic: The Gathering

Source: Brook Trafton (TikTok)

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The Magic: The Gathering (MTG) ‘One Ring’ card has been pulled. A Whitby, Ontario resident has reportedly found this heavily sought-after card.

The owner currently remains anonymous, though we do know a Maximum Cards customer pulled the card. The retailer later revealed the card was not pulled while in the store.

“It was taken, he acquired legal representation, who then had it taken down to PSA and had to grade it in person,” a Maximum Card representative told Dextero.

The card was later graded by PSA, the world’s largest and most trusted grading service. The card has been graded with Mint 9, meaning it’s in excellent condition with few imperfections. The highest rating a card can receive is GEM-MT10. With this in mind, the One Ring card will likely have a lot of bidders.

Breaking News

The hunt is over! We can confirm that the 1/1 The One Ring has been PULLED!

Stay tuned as more details become available.

— Dave & Adam's (@dacardworld) June 30, 2023

The One Ring is a unique card introduced in The Lord of the Rings set for MTG. Before its discovery, collectors reportedly paid as high as $2 million USD (around $2.6 million CAD) for the card. The One Ring card would be the most expensive MTG card ever sold if it sells for this amount. Aside from The One Ring, MTG’s Black Lotus has been auctioned for upwards of $500,000 USD (roughly $662,000 CAD).

With the discovery of the One Ring card, it’s likely that the value of Magic: The Gathering’s Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth Collector Booster packs will decrease. However, even though the rarest card is no longer out there, many other limited edition MTG cards are still yet to be found.

Image credit: Magic: The Gathering

Via: The Gamer

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On Tuesday, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) said the Whitby site would be one of five – in Ontario – to be run by Grifols, a Spanish pharmaceutical company. The union denounced the practice of paying for plasma, arguing it could exploit people in financial need.

Grifols noted last year that it expected the Ontario sites to be open in 2024.

CBS itself does not pay for blood or plasma, but it does have an exemption under the Voluntary Blood Donations Act. The agency said Grifols will operate as one of its agents, under the Act.

Plasma is a yellow fluid that forms a key part of human blood. It can be used to produce medicines known as immunoglobulins, which perform a variety of functions. They are usually used to boost weak immune systems, or to calm down overactive immune systems that have begun attacking the body.

CBS signed a deal in 2022 with Grifols in an effort to bolster Canada’s plasma supply.

According to the blood agency, Grifols will need to make sure the plasma it collects in Canada will be used exclusively to make medicine for Canadian patients. The agency says this will reduce its reliance on the global market.

Meantime, OPSEU argues the deal privatizes plasma collection in Canada. The union also argued it could disincentivize people from donating blood and instead give their plasma for money.

Over the last year, the union has campaigned to keep paid plasma collection sites out of Ontario, arguing they could exploit vulnerable populations.

The agency argues the Whitby location will not impact blood collection on the national level.

A full statement by CBS is as follows:

In September 2022, Canadian Blood Services announced our action plan in response to a global shortage of medications called immunoglobulins and plasma needed to make them. Our agreement with Grifols, a global healthcare company and leader in producing plasma medicines, is one part of that plan.

In June 2023, we announced Grifols’ next steps in fulfilling its contractual commitment to Canadian Blood Services, which include opening up to five plasma collection sites in Ontario, where Grifols will operate under the Voluntary Blood Donations Act as our agent. Canadian Blood Services has approved Whitby, Ont., as the location of one of Grifols’ collection sites as we have determined this location will not have an impact on national blood system operations.

Paying plasma donors does not mean medications made from their plasma are unsafe. During manufacturing, plasma from all donors (both paid and unpaid) is cleaned and purified to remove and inactivate potential infectious agents.

Health Canada is the regulator of blood and blood products in Canada. This includes donor eligibility criteria and safety measures, such as how often plasma can be collected from a donor, regardless of whether they are paid. As per the Food and Drugs Act, all collection sites in Canada, including Grifols’ sites, must obtain a license to operate from Health Canada and undergo regular inspections, like we do.

Canadian Blood Services’ priority, as the national blood operator, is ensuring patients in Canada continue to have access to essential lifesaving therapies they need. With funding from governments, Canadian Blood Services is opening 11 dedicated plasma donor centres (nine of which have opened) and collecting more plasma ourselves.

We want to reinforce that our agreement with Grifols doesn’t change Canadian Blood Services’ operations. It means that:

Canadian Blood Services will continue to ensure through this agreement that the medications we purchase from Grifols keep meeting the same track record in safety as those we have purchased on behalf of health systems for patients in Canada for more than 25 years.

The original release by OPSEU is as follows:

OPSEU/SEFPO condemns the announcement by Canadian Blood Services that for-profit multinational pharmaceutical company Grifols will open paid plasma collection sites in Whitby, Cambridge and Hamilton in late 2024 and 2025. Grifols will be operating under an undisclosed 15-year deal with Canadian Blood Services to privatize plasma collection in Canada.

“The only way to keep our blood supply safe in Canada is to keep private, for-profit corporations like Grifols away from it,” said Geoff Cain, OPSEU/SEFPO Executive Board member and Chair of the Blood Services and Diagnostics sector. “Canadian Blood Services already collects plasma. There’s no reason why we can’t invest in our own plasma centres, and upgrade more of our blood donation centres so they can collect plasma as well from voluntary donors. We don’t need a blood-for-money system in Ontario.”

Introducing for-profit plasma collection sites where Grifols can pay donors for their plasma not only exploits vulnerable people experiencing financial difficulty, but could also create a decrease in volunteers donating whole blood to Canadian Blood Services, undermining system as a whole.

“When the profit motive is introduced into any public service, corners inevitably get cut in order to increase profits,” said OPSEU/SEFPO President JP Hornick. “We simply cannot take the chance with our blood supply that profits will trump ethics. Canadian Blood Services has the trained staff and best practices to ensure that every step of the blood collection process is done safely and ethically in a public system.”

After the tainted blood tragedy of the 1980’s, the Krever Commission made the following recommendations, reaffirmed by leading blood policy organizations around the world, including the World Health Organization:

OPSEU/SEFPO launched NoPaidPlasma.ca in 2023, with actions and resources for the public to take to stop paid plasma collection in Ontario.

“It’s time for Canadian Blood Services to cancel their deal with Grifols,” said Hornick. “Plasma and blood are not a for-profit commodity. They are life-saving resources that should be kept in public hands.”

Cover photo courtesy of Canadian Blood Services.

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