eSports Day
On Saturday 25th February Greater Shepparton Secondary College held its first ever eSports Day in our college gym. The event was aimed at introducing students to an aspect of social gaming that has slowly diminished, with the increased ability to connect online. All who attended were very happy with the results of participating in the experience. It also provided an opportunity for students, displaying high levels of skills in their gaming, a chance to prove their abilities against others in a live environment.
Participants arrived from 10am on Saturday morning to set up their computers or consoles and get ready for the day. We already had a buzz as they came in, excited to sign up for different tournaments and chatting to others who they may already know or had met for the first time due to their shared interest. Alongside our computer-based gaming, a virtual reality was set up for kids to test out their Beat Saber skills, along with a board game and a card game table set up by Cris Campanella, all of which had a lot of interest and participation.
There were booths set up from the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) and GoTafe, with displays and activities to show participants what career opportunities can come out of their interest in gaming and computers. GoTafe brought along a hacking challenge, with visitors to the booth seeing how fast they could break into another computer on their network! Both organisations had a chance to address the hall about what they do and the opportunities that they provide at their institutions, which were well received by students and started a few conversations about career paths.
Our event runners, Justin, AJ and Brandon, were amazing in their professionalism and their support for our students, who were unfamiliar with how eSport tournaments run. They were busy throughout the day making sure students were signed into the right things and joining the right games, as well as running the technical side of the event.
It was an amazing opportunity to have them provide this for our students and they are keen to make sure it happens again! (It definitely will!) We gave out a huge range of prizes thanks to JB Education. Our tournament winners were:
Rocket League – Andrew Kenttala, Noah Murdoch and Jaiden Heinzmann secured a spot and travel expenses paid to The Game Expo’s Rocket League tournament, which gives them a chance at a $5000 prize!
Super Smash Brothers Ultimate – Nate Traianidis won a PowerA Pokémon Edition Switch controller has been invited to The Game Expo to compete in Smash tournament.
Runner-up, Imran Coskun (not pictured), has also been invited to compete at the Game Expo and both will have travel expenses paid.
Diabotical – Andrew Kenttala and Jaiden Heinzmann received a PowerA Chroma Xbox controller each.
Chess – Sabri Ibisi won a Super Mario edition chess set, which he confessed he already owned and in a great display of sportsmanship, he donated it to another competitor!
Fortnite – Brody Betson and friend Blake won a Mionix Gaming mouse for efforts in Fortnite.
Apex Legends – Sabri Ibisi, Jaiden Heinzmann and Regan Ayton won a Logitech G502 Gaming mouse each.
Overwatch – Jaiden Heinzmann won a Logitech G213 Gaming keyboard and runner-up Regan Ayton won an MSI dinosaur hat!
William Lees
Director of eLearning & Resource Centres