Previously, good high school students are known for studying, charity activities and sports only. A student playing video games usually is a bad image in parents’ and teachers’ eyes. However, the time has changed. Thank the technology advance, more and more people have realized the educational benefits of video games as well as esports and, luckily, so have the teachers. Recently Riot Oceania announced that with the cooperation of High School Esports League (HSEL), the University of Queensland (UQ), and the University of Queensland Union (UQU), there would be a League of Legends High School championship for students in Australia and New Zealand.
Riot is undoubtedly happy with this. From a post in OCE forums, Esports Lead for Riot Games Oceania, Mr. Chris Schubert, wrote that Riot is more than pleased and will definitely do the best to bring the most satisfied esports championship for high school students. He also said in the post that the tournament would be the window for the students to develop their personalities, and proudly compete for the name of their school. All of these would never be possible without all the marvelous, passionate help and ideas from the partners and Riot would definitely pursuit the plans to expand the program, according to Mr. Chris Schubert.
Those are the words from Riot, but what do teachers think about this? An educator, Mr. Tim Joyce, one of the co-founders of UQU Esports, in an interview with Dot Esports, expressed the kind words for the esports in high school students. Joyce believed this was an unprecedented opportunity for introverted students to practice their teamwork skills in such a new extra-curricular activity. With the fact that there would be new events and competitions every few months, the importance of training the new generation of players is undeniable, according to Mr. Jim Joyce
What even more surprising is that this is not the first time. The same championship was held last year too, and the finals were broadcasted live from ESL Studios in Sydney. Nevertheless, the champion will have a much bigger scale this year. It has been confirmed that the finals for the High School League Championships 2019 will be a part of Melbourne Esports Open, one of Australia’s most famous esports events.
Regarding all the investment of Riot and the change in the perspective of teachers, do you think that the same will happen in your region, your school? Will it happen eventually or the educators in your country will never allow that? Before we can all know the final answer, you can check out the information of The High School League of Legends Championship, which will start in March, via their official website.
Comments