IESF’S PLAYERS’ COMMISSION INVITES ALL PLAYERS TO PARTICIPATE

Athletes proudly bearing their national flags at IESF’s 10th World Championships – Kaosiung.

To create better communication between International Esports Federation (IESF) and all the esports athletes it serves, IESF’s Players’ Commission, hereby invites all athletes who have participated in member federation’s teams in IESF events to join IESF’s Players’ Commission discord and Facebook Group page.

All such athletes are encouraged to join both the Discord and Facebook Group page so that any and all concerns raised by athletes can be raised at Board level in order to help IESF improve the experience.

The Discord and Facebook Group page is reserved entirely for such athletes, and is a safe space for athletes to voice concerns or comment about anything. IESF’s Players’ Commission will do its very best to solve any issues any athlete may have.

Amanda Pakade, MSSA president, has also stressed the importance of all South African players who have attended IESF World Championships to join the various platforms.

"Ony by taking ann active role in directing the affairs of IESF, can athletes take true ownership of esports, said Ms. Amanda Pakade.

All questions or concerns must be directed to:

• Facebook Group Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/331951380921285/.
• Discord Group- https://discord.gg/thHXAVm
• E-mail - jaybatzofin@ie-sf.org

MSSA's Athlete's Representative is off to Shanghai

Jason Batzofin - MSSA's Athlete's Representative

Jason Batzofin (St John’s Mind Sports Club) will, on Monday, 25 July 2016, fly off to Shanghai in China to attend the IeSF's Global eSports Summit on behalf of Mind Sports South Africa.

While at the Global eSports Summit, Jason will be thrown in among many of the movers and shakers in the eSports world, and will carry South Africa’s hopes, dreams and aspirations on his shoulders.

However, not all will be work.

While there, Jason will be able to attend ‘ChinaJoy’ and see all that China has to offer the gaming world. ChinaJoy is China's largest and most  prestigious digital entertainment expo whereat it is  expected that there will  be intent transactions contracted totalling USD350,000,000.00.

Jason was elected by South Africa’s senior players (those that have at least senior Provincial Colours) at MSSA’s 2015 Annual General Meeting. The position is a three year term, and may only be held by a Registered Player who has earned Protea Colours and has represented South Africa in International Competition.  

Establishment of IeSF's Athletes Commission and South African representative thereof

The International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) is taking steps to establish an Athletes Commission to protect the right and interest of e-Sports athletes, while continuing its journey to be recognized by International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The establishment of an Athletes Commission is one of the core criteria in the IOC recognition process, as it ensures the voice of athletes is heard.

In order to establish such a structure, IeSF will work together with e-Sports athletes and implement necessary procedures one-by-one for the Athletes Commission to function in the proper manner. The commission shall voice the e-sports athlete's rights, interests, and welfare.

Jason Batzofin

The process to establish the Athletes Commission will start with the 45 member nations of IeSF, encouraging athletes to register for all game titles. As an initial stage of commission development, athletes with international competition experience shall be recommended by each National federation. To support the formation and taking into account that majority of e-Sports athletes are in their youth, IeSF plans to organize an advisory group of experienced members in the sports field to give insight and knowledge to the athletes representatives.

It should be noted that MSSA, has had such an Athlete's Representative on its committee since 2005. As such, South Africa is ahead of the curve, and already ready to serve the interests of its athletes at the highest possible level. Such representative is elected by athletes who have earned senior Provincial  or National colours every third year at MSSA's AGM. The current representative is Jason Batzofin. Jason first earned his Protea Colours in 2014 for wargames, and then in 2015 earned such colours  for both  wargames and eSports.

The Goal of IeSF is to give support and offer conceptual aid for the Athletes Commission to become an organization which can grow into an independent structure for athletes in which they can voice their opinions freely. The Commission shall also participate in the decisions of IeSF key agendas to reflect its opinion and contribute to the e-sports momentum.

IeSF will work together with the Athletes Commission to work on touch points which has been an issue for e-Sports athletes. Crucial issues such as the VISA process have always been a problem for e-Sports athletes since many countries do not recognize it as an official sport. However IeSF wishes to solve this by making e-Sports recognized as a true sport, working together with the Athletes Commission.

IeSF has supported e-Sports athletes in VISA issues for the past 8 years during its annual World championships, working closely with each host country governments. IeSF has resolved cases during Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games (AIMAG), indorsed by OCA (Olympic Council of Asia).

Moreover IeSF supported PESO(Philippine e-Sports Organization) DOTA 2 athletes with residential Visa and Sports Visa, in cooperation with the Korean government and KeSPA (Korean e-Sports Association). Working together with various international sports organizations and various government officials, IeSF is now extending the support to all athletes of the e-Sports industry, and would like to achieve this together with the Athletes Commission

Opening ceremony at 6th IeSF World Championships - Bucharest

The Athletes Commission shall begin its first activities during the 8^th e-Sports World Championships which is jointly hosted by TAFISA at its World Sport for All Games in October this year. At such event, the opinions of the national athletes shall be recorded, while also discussing Anti-Doping and other ethical topics during the session. With the information and interest gathered during the World Championship, it will act as a valuable source to constitute the Commission which shall officially begin to function in 2017.

“The Athletes commission is not only where the voices of the athletes heard, but it is an important sector which can advise IeSF in taking its steps for the future e-Sports development. IeSF will be in full support to establish of the Athletes Commission and will make sure to be in constant communication with one another. We would like to encourage athletes and ask for continuous support for the commission to be formed in the proper manner and direction” said Alex Lim, Secretary General of IeSF, “The current global e-Sports Academy, underdevelopment of IeSF, will be focusing on welfare and second life career developments of the athletes. For it to function as a realistic and practical education program, IeSF will work closely with the Athletes Commission to integrate its opinion and needs”