At a time when some traditional sports aren鈥檛 being played due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is coming to B.C. secondary schools.
says it will begin the rollout of e-sports, or electronic sports, in high schools this fall, in partnership with Vancouver-based company .
Trial play launches with the team-based strategy game at BCSS member schools.
An initial 鈥渆xploratory trial competition鈥� among schools will take place on the GameSeta online platform. The games will be streamed live on Twitch for an online audience , according to a news release sent Monday (Oct. 23) by GameSeta.
鈥淲ith this partnership and our unique technology, Canada will have its first scalable high school esports solution that priorities Canadian student data and privacy protections,鈥� stated Rana Taj, GameSeta president and co-founder.
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E-sports is a 鈥済reat option鈥� for schools as they look to provide participation opportunites for high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Tawanda Masawi, GameSeta鈥檚 CEO and co-founder.
鈥淥ur value proposition continues to strengthen during COVID-19, which explains our oversubscribed waitlist from schools across provinces in Canada,鈥� he said in the news release.
, said the organization is 鈥渢hrilled鈥� to partner with a B.C.-based company in GameSeta, founded in 2019.
鈥淓sports is a new frontier for BCSS but credit to our Board of Directors who felt it was important to explore every option on how to engage students with their school,鈥� Abney said in the GameSeta news release. 鈥淭here is a mountain of evidence to suggest good things happen to youth when there is a sense of belonging, responsibility and community in their school. If we can bring that to students who wouldn鈥檛 normally participate in school sport, then that is a great thing for our member schools.鈥�
League of Legends, among the world鈥檚 most popular video games, was 鈥渢he preferred choice鈥� among BCSS membership, Abney said.
鈥淲e appreciate it鈥檚 a 5v5 team-based strategy game (that) will offer many of the same teaching and growth opportunities that any traditional team sport would.鈥�
Yearly, BC School Sports offers interscholastic competition in 19 different activities to more than 70,000 students in Grades 8 to 12.
Nearly 200 colleges in the U.S. and Canada are actively recruiting and offer scholarships for e-sports, the news release says. Also, 鈥渃ompanies within the esports industry are looking to hire those with experience across multiple aspects of gaming.鈥�
In a biography, GameSeta said it partners with school bodies and associations 鈥渢o deliver safe and inclusive esports competitions while also developing problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills in students.鈥�
For the e-sports trial, interested schools are asked to fill out and email it to bwhyte@bcschoolsports.ca by no later than noon on Nov. 4. The cost to participate in the trial invitational will be $29.99 per student.
