HADO Brighton opens its doors to players on Chinese New Year

The Hado Brighton Centre opened to fanfare and celebration as visitors marked the 'soft launch' of the new centre, which fell on the same day as Chinese New Year.

There was a Chinese dragon at the celebrations (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

Hado is described as "augmented-reality dodgeball", where players don a headset and the reality around them is changed, in this case to include "energy balls" and "shields" in the semi-computer-generated space.

Players of the game move around the court, interacting with sensors that then tell the headset where to overlay the shields, dodgeball and other information on top of reality.

A spokesman for Hado said: "It's like playing a video game in real life."

The centre will be open for drop-in sessions, clubs, and corporate events.

There is a league of teams, competing for titles at both a national and international level, with regular tournaments in Europe and Japan, where the sport started.

Brighton-based team IDK have racked up an impressive portfolio of international successes.

Team member Paris Lee said: "It's taught me how to communicate with my teammates, it's taught me agility.

"Anyone can play it, regardless of age, size or disaibility. We even had wheelchair Hado a few weeks ago."

Paris has joined the team in tournaments across the world (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

Jake Mayor, a coach at Hado Brighton, said: "Before this, I was as a football coach. 

"I was on universal credit at the time, when this job opportunity came up - and it seemed so exciting. I remember coming in for the first time, and watching them play, which was really interesting.

"It's been great to transfer the football coaching that I've learnt, and break that down for Hado.

"The brand new place is so nice, because we were all over the place setting up pop-ups." 

Jake joined Hado Brighton one year ago (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

The 22-year-old has high hopes for the future of the sport. "I think the Olympics is the obvious progression for Hado. They've put esports into the Olympics, and this is perfect as it blends the videogame world with the sports world" he said.

Jake feels as though Hado has helped people develop as individuals. "We see success stories where people metamorphosize into more confident people.

"The people who are attracted to Hado are often those who are already in a video game environment, sometimes stuck at home, where their social skills might not neccessarily be there.

"I've noticed a few of the people came here really shy, and they've been able to make friends and grow as people.

"I think is one of the most rewarding things about being a coach with young people, especially is developing human beings rather than players."

The sport has Olympic aspirations (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

The opening event was at the purpose-built venue in the Knoll Business Centre, in the Old Shoreham Road, Hove.

The first day of the Chinese New Year was chosen to open the new centre because it is the "luckiest day of the year" to owners Sasha and Chi Lee.

The ceremony was said to bring "luck and joy" to the business and everyone who attended. 

It is hoped that the new venue can not only bring more people into the sport but help the existing teams train for national championships in the future.

The pair have run their events company for the last five years (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

Sasha and Chi, the owners of the Hado Brighton Centre, first came across the futuristic sport through their corporate events business, The S Events.

Chi said: "We were looking for something for teambuilding events, and I was doing a lot of research. I didn't want something typical like a treasure hunt, I wanted something fresh, with technology.

"And Hado appeared on my Facebook."

The sport initially gained popularity in Japan, where many of the world's leading teams are based. 

"I got in touch, and a month later I got an email from the UK lead. He invited me to Birmingham to make contact, the four hour drive didn't bother me.

"I tried it out and I thought 'this is it.'

"This is something bigger than team building, this is a sport and a community as well.

"Since then, we've been doing events for the community in Brighton, so they can try out and find out more about the sport.

"And now we've got this new centre."

For more information visit https://www.hadoarsports.com/