Watch out for these gamers.

FLTR: Miss Magdel Putter (Esport organiser), Rico Very (Monument Park High School), Amanda Kwaza (MSSA president), Colin Webster (IESF president), and Theunis van der Merwe (winner of the bursary). Photograph courtesy of YOU.

Long gone are the days where school sports are limited to a physical field. North-West University (NWU) and Mind Sports SA (MSSA)’s NWU MSSA Online School League recently concluded and these are the gamers that came out on top – and took home some serious cash:

1. Theunis van der Merwe of Hoërskool Klerksdorp won a R30,000.00 bursary in the individual category playing Street Fighter V. 
2. Dragon Gaming, a team of five from Monument Park High School in Cape Town won R10 000 for their games of Paladins. 
3. PRG DOTA A, a team of five from Paul Roos Gymnasium in Paarl won R10,000.00 for winning the DotA 2 esports title. 

The NWU MSSA Online School League started in 2010 with only three schools participating, but ESport has become so popular that the league had 60 participating schools for the 2019 event. MSSA has also joined hands with Media24 and Partnermedia, and now offer bigger prizes than just medals and provincial colours – such as cash prizes and study bursaries awarded to the winners this year. And this is only the beginning. 

Esport has become the fastest-growing spectator sport in the world, and just like an athletic child can consider a career in rugby or one of the other team sports offered at schools, there are now similar career opportunities for children gaming their days and nights away. According to Business Insider, South Africans earned R3,78 million playing formal esports in 2018. This excludes sponsorship deals. 

Enter the 2020 League.

If you or your school would like to take part in the 2020 NWU MSSA Online School League, send an email to: schoolesport@partnermedia.co.za or mindsportscorrespondence@gmail.com

What is MSSA? 

Mind Sports SA is the official and largest membership-based organisation for gaming in South Africa and is an affiliate of the International Esports Federation, Federation de Jeau du Mondiale and the International Wargames Federation. Its membership to these international bodies make it the sole authority for the games that it caters for in terms of the South African Sports and Recreation Act and has the authority to award SA national colours for esports.