Ave Steps Down as North's Head Coach

Alexander “ave” Holdt has announced in a statement that he will step down from his role as North’s head coach.

Today we're saying goodbye to @avecsgo, who is stepping down as First Team Coach, to focus on his family.
Alex had been with us since April 2017, first as Academy Coach and later as First Team Coach.
Thank you for all you have done for us Alex ❤
? https://t.co/1B8JX6pXjQ pic.twitter.com/rfs0kCPYmf

— North (@TheNorthIsHere) February 4, 2019

Ave first joined the North organization in 2017 as an analyst. He quickly worked his way up the ladder to become the coach of North’s academy team. In January 2018, ave became the coach of the primary North team. Their largest accomplishment as a roster was defeating Astralis in the grand final of DreamHack Masters Stockholm.

North recently failed to qualify for the IEM Katowice Major, but ave’s stepping down doesn’t appear to be related. In his statement on the official North website, ave had the following to say:

"I've chosen to put my coaching career on hold for now. The nature of competitive CS:GO includes a lot of traveling and time away from my family. Since my wife and I are expecting our third child this Spring, I've chosen to prioritize more time with my family.”

It appears that ave will exit esports and the North organization entirely for the time being. Director of Esports for North, Jonas Svendsen, had the following to say in the statement:

“I, and the entire North organization, would like to thank Alex for his contribution and dedication to North over the last two years. Alex is very talented, and we hope that he will return to esports in the future and hopefully in North."

At the upcoming GG.Bet ICE Challenge, North will trial Torbjørn “mithR” Nyborg as their new head coach.