LAYING FIRM FOUNDATIONS

Maryke Kennard in action

The foundations laid by the IeSF are indeed proving to be the sort of stuff upon which great works are built.

From humble beginnings in 2008, the IeSF has consistently improved upon itself as visible seen through the annual IeSF World Championships.

If the growth of the membership is not enough, then certainly the way in which the IeSF instituted the Member Review System, handled its changes to its Statutes, and have continually hosted its World Championships bear further testimony to the readiness for the IeSF to take its place among all the other sporting codes at SportAccord and to further develop eSports as a true sporting discipline.

From a South African point of view, the only point that requires further emphasis is that of events dedicated to, and for, women. It has long been a treasured belief by the MSSA that you simply cannot exclude women from mainline gaming, and that everything that can be done, must be done to make sure that gaming is available to female gamers.

The ability for South Africa to send two women to the 2012 IeSF World Championships as part of the normal team, helped the MSSA create a far deeper awareness of eSports in South Africa. 

Since then, MSSA has ensured that females always are included in the South African Protea eSports Team.

The media coverage received from the female section of the team was truly phenomenal and reached the Ministry of Sport itself.

As a result of the much increased coverage, the MSSA is now able to further help develop eSports within the continent of Africa and build on its successes that it has already achieved over the past few years.