High School League competition amps up in week eight

eSports teams are infiltrating education providers around the world, offering those with a passion for gaming a chance to take on the world and make a career out of it.

Last year saw a number of tertiary institutions around the world offering eSports scholarships and supporting their teams in tournaments, in the not too distant future League of Legends (LoL) could be the new school rugby team.

The High School League, a free tournament that invited secondary schools from around New Zealand to put forward teams to compete in high stakes games of LoL. The league recently began live streaming games, giving teams of students a chance to gain exposure.

Now in Round 8, the competition is getting fierce, Educators caught up with Letsplay.live tournament director Freddie Tresidder to see how the teams are going.

Tresidder says the HSL is being received incredibly well, with unexpected  amounts of support from teachers.

"To my surprise, it's exceeded any expectations we had when tabled this idea in August last year, the reception from notably the teachers has been absolutely mind blowing, and I'm stoked to see that enthusiasm from everyone involved.

The uptake from schools has been massive and the 2018 HSL hopes to have twice the roster, says Tresidder.

"It's been absolutely tremendous. At this rate, we're looking at doubling the amount of teams we'll have involved at the start of 2018, due to the amount of teams we (unfortunately) have had to turn away due to limited spots in the league this time round.

"The quality of the games, teams, and overall reception from the schools has been fantastic, and we're looking forward to getting more schools involved.

Tresidder says the competition is really amping up and teams, and with teams moving up the leaderboards, he's got his eye on who's going to make it to the grand finals.

"We're only about a month away from the beginning of playoffs, and we're already seeing some big teams showing up to secure their spot to make their way to the grand finals. One school I have my eye on is Burnside High School in the Southland region, who currently have two unbeaten teams at the top of the table, who will be facing off in Match Week 8.

Exciting announcements for the grand finals are on there way, says Tresidder. Prizes, the tournament format, venue and more are all to be revealed very soon, So keep an eye on Educators for more later in the week.

In the meantime, Tresidder says, you can catch the week eight streams over on their site, to see the remaining teams battle it out.

Auckland 1:

• Howick College vs Henderson High School
• ACG Senior College vs Avondale College
• Papakura High School vs Alfriston College

Auckland 2:

• Mount Albert Grammar #2 vs Rangitoto College #2
• Mount Albert Grammar #1 vs Western Springs College
• Rangitoto College #1 vs Auckland International College

Bay of Plenty/Waikato:

• Hauraki Plains College vs Wanganui High School
• Western Heights High School vs John Paul College
• Rotorua Boy's High School vs Upper Hutt College #3

This type of competition is something to watch out for in future if your school hasn't been involved in this year's HSL.

The the gaming industry is always evolving and with burgeoning careers in eSports being very lucrative, it's a great opportunity for students to get ahead start. eSport is also a great way to engage students on their level, while upping the digital fluency offerings of your classroom.