Massive growth as record number of Queensland High Schools embracing co-curricular eSports
Video game based eSports has seen a massive boom over the past decade, leading to a large amount of Queensland high schools embracing the medium as a co-curricular sport. However, its not just all about video games.
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For years it’s been battling negative stigma and outdated stereotypes, but now a record amount of Queensland High Schools are embracing co-curricular video game competitions.
Majorly supported by the Anglican Schools Commission and Queensland University of Technology, the Queensland High Schools eSports League has experienced staggering growth in the past four years since its inception, with it touting to have 36 schools involved next year.
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eSports, also known as ‘electronic sports’, is a form of competition that uses various types of video games as the ‘playing field’ – ranging from large strategy games to first person shooters, primarily of which are team based.
The digital scene has seen a major boom within the past decade, with online viewership for large eSport events overseas repeatedly topping over 4 million as well as repeatedly selling out major sports venues across the globe – with some international competitions also finding their way onto television networks.
The medium also plays host to a large number of commentator, broadcast, production and support staff that work in the same capacity as their more traditional sport counterparts. These roles are also mimicked within Queensland’s High School League, giving students opportunities that have been dubbed industry firsts for Australia.
Talking about the League’s early success, League co-ordinator and former task-force Argos Detective Steve Window has told the Courier-Mail how a big emphasis on “inclusiveness” and “personal development” for students both on and off the digital field has encouraged major schools to join ranging from Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane to Trinity Anglican School in Cairns to get involved.
“We’ve really gotten the students involved in whatever area’s they want to be – eSports isn’t all about competing, there’s producers, commentators, content creators and broadcast staff that all make it happen.” Mr Window told the Courier-Mail.
The “student leading student” production is primarily done within QUT’s eSports Arena at Gardens Point, and is broadcast online onto popular gaming live streaming website Twitch. TV – though due to the nature of “online gaming”, teams that are outside of Brisbane can also compete within their own schools, leading to inter-school competition that hasn’t been seen before.
The League is also backed with an eSafety Commissioner led initiative that educates the players on the “Four R’s” of online safety, Respect, Responsibility, Reasoning and Resilience.
These learning principals have also been able to cultivate a strong sense of camaraderie and wellbeing between competing teams, with school co-ordinators like St John’s Anglican College’s Head of e-Learning & Innovation Sharon Singh calling the league’s growing success a “paradigm shift” in how schools see digital competitive activity.
“We treat it like any other sports training at our college. Similar expectations, different mediums. We train at the college three times a week during lunch – and you can see how it fuels a sense of teamwork and belonging that they might not normally feel while playing the game on their own.” Miss Singh told the Courier-Mail.
“You do get those teachers and staff who don’t “get it” at first, but once they see what actually goes into the League, they’re blown away.”
You can find out more about the League at www.queenslandschoolsesportsleague.net.au.