WHAT AN UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT
ELECTRONIC sporting athletes took to their devices to compete in virtual arenas for spots on this year’s Proteas Esports Team, which will compete on the international stage in Israel later this year.
This weekend, Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) held their annual South African Schools’ National Championships. But it differed from previous years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown.
The competition is now totally virtual, and all participants will compete remotely in the comfort of their own homes.
MSSA is a non-profit association and is an affiliate of the International esports Federation, Federation de Jeau du Mondiale, and the International Wargames Federation.
The MSSA is responsible for the good governance and promotion of historical figure games also known as war games, board games such as checkers, draughts, card gaming, robotics, and esports regardless of how they are played, be it on cell phones or personal computers.
Colin Webster, MSSA general secretary, said during previous years, all school championships required participants to play from a central location under the control of an educator or official.
“However, with the onset of Covid19, such rules have been temporarily relaxed to allow players to compete from home. Nevertheless, in order to ensure fairness, umpires will virtually monitor all games and competitors. The show must go on,” said Webster.
He said there were currently 68 schools affiliated to MSSA and this championship is open to any registered school, as well as any home school.
“This championship is the online version of the LAN (face-to-face) championship that has had to be deferred, but they are still fighting it out for the same prizes. The championship offers learners the opportunity to earn both provincial and national sporting colours. Not only are colours at stake, but the top three teams or players in each discipline also qualify for national team selection,” he said.
Webster said if players were successful and all went well, they would be selected for the Protea Esports Team which would compete in International Esports Federation (IESF) events with cash pots totalling hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars at stake.
“The team should be selected in September. But some of the more consistent local teams are from Curro Grantleigh and Empangeni High School.”
Belinda Waldapfel, the team manager for Curro Grantleigh High School, said this would be the team’s final year of competing in the MSSA schools league.
“We have two teams at the school.
One is for the game Counter-strike: Global Offensive and the other for League of Legends. But this year, only one team, the League of Legends team, will participate this weekend.”
The team is made up of five matric pupils – Jason Harris, Nikhil Harrial, Thomas Blendulf, Samual Brading and team captain Mason Waldapfel – who will compete against other teams of five.
“They are our senior team. The other is our junior team made up of Grade 9 pupils. We started the initiative in 2018, and our senior team has been together since then, so this weekend is important to them.
“They’ve created this bond and friendship, much like any other sportsmen who have been on the same team for years.”
Waldapfel said while the boys contemplated on what to study, most were leaning towards the field of computer game design.
Waldapfel said she used to coach netball at the school and that after learning more about the field from her sons, found that it was just as an intense and taxing as hours on a field.
“It is just like any other mainstream sport. It involves serious hours of practising, strategising and perfecting game plans. Most importantly, it teaches them good team spirit and learning to take the hard knocks of losing and improving on weaknesses. They are always growing.”