Let the gaming begin!
In what has become one of the most popular industries in the realm of sports, eSports has seen massive growth in the past few years and Laurier is pleased to launch their first ever competitive digital gaming league.
The league, named Laurier eSports Live, was launched last week and is now open for registration until Sept. 20. The league will begin its inaugural season on Sept. 26 with an incredible “Fortnite Solo Homecoming Tournament.”
The solo tournament is open for registration and costs $30 to enter individually. The Athletics department at Laurier announced that there is a $1,000 cash-prize reward for the winner of the tournament and secondary pricing worth over $1,000 as well.
While this tournament will kick-start the Laurier eSports league, there are a variety of other games for students to register into: there six different games that students can compete against each other in.
Laurier students are encouraged to register and can sign up individually or as a team. Both KP Anand, Associate Director of Business Operations and Sarah Broderick, Manager of Recreation and Wellness, who spearheaded the launch of eSports around the Laurier campus believe that the league will be a focus for student experience and recreation throughout the entire 2020-21 school year.
“eSports will further allow us to unite our students and community through one multi-campus platform, something that we have been longing to do for quite some time,” Broderick stated.
Anand agreed with Broderick in the fact that this new league can make an impact in connecting the Laurier community together.
“This will allow our students to be at the helm of a very dynamic environment,” Anand said.
Anand has also mentioned that they will take recommendations and actively undertake research in order to add to the variety of games that the league will offer.
With such disappointment surrounding the OUA’s decision to cancel all fall sports, universities were left to be creative in order to spur competition around the campus. Broderick, Anand and the rest of the faculty members at Laurier have done a great job in launching a fun and competitive initiative in the wake of such disappointing on-field news.
These leagues place professional gamers and sometimes athletes against each other for cash prizes. Considering the Covid-19 pandemic, esports will most likely not leave the sports scene for a long time, and Laurier is smart to join in with this new athletics and recreation league.
