The bigger picture.

Time line of IESF's achievements.

With  esports sitting on the cusp of much greater things, there are still many gamers who do not see the full picture and only see a small segment.

The International Esports Federation (IESF) which was founded in 2008, has tirelessly worked away at having esports accredited as a sport by the main international controlling bodies.

Besides having organised and run World Championships consistently from 2009 through to 2017, IESF has had a number of important milestones with major sporting bodies like OCA, WADA, TAFISA, IAAF, and FISU.

Membership of IESF has shot up from the 8 original founding member federations in 2008 to 46 member federations.

Even the most major of private companies involved in esports, like ESL, openly backs the formation of national federations, please read: ESL helps found Germany’s Esports Association - eSport-Bund Deutschland (ESBD)

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) is cognisant of the changes occurring on the world platform, MSSA has  been affiliated to IESF since 2009, and fully subscribes to IESF's long-term vision.

In my opinion so should every organisation involved in esports. From the smallest LAN and online championship operator, to the biggest.

The global vision expounded by IESF will benefit all, just as MSSA's efforts have done so in South Africa. Without MSSA having had esports accredited as a sport in 2005, would the current growth and benefits that are accruing be possible?

Esports is changing and evolving.

This is a great time to be involved.

Playing in international competition

The BOO! Protea Esports Team that attended IESF's 9th World Championships - Busan.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion in certain quarters about who may, and who is eligible, to play in overseas competition.

The short  answer is that any person may play in any private competition.

Thus any South African gamer may enter ESL, WESG, Dreamhack, ESWC, etc., as those competitions are privately owned and do not form part of the officially recognised circuit.

In fact it has always been part of MSSA's policy to encourage teams to enter such.

It should be noted that MSSA even helped Energy eSports attend the ESWC in 2014 by helping to obtain deferred exams for two members of the team so that they could attend such the event.

MSSA believes that until more teams experience international competition, the standard of gaming in South Africa will not improve.

Thus all clubs should take advantage of National Lottery Funding, as such funding allows for travel to such events.

However, it should be noted that a club team playing in an event in a foreign country does not mean that such team is representing South Africa.

Only a team officially selected by MSSA may claim to represent South Africa.

Only the team so selected may be awarded Protea Colours.

Any queries apropos the above may be directed to mindsportssa@iafrica.com

ESL helps found Germany’s Esports Association - eSport-Bund Deutschland (ESBD)

Jan Pommer of ESL (left) with Colin Webster of MSSA (right)

"SHOTCALLER" reported on 26 November 2017, that the German esports association called eSport-Bund Deutschland (ESBD) had just been formed. 

The association consists of 21 esports organizations including professional and amateur teams but also the industry association for interactive entertainment software as well as one of the world’s leading esports tournament organizers ESL.

MSSA's Colin Webster had met with Jan Pommer (of ESL) at the  Global  Executive Esports Summit (GEES) in Busan just weeks before.

The development of a German esports association is particularly exciting as it allows the German esports athletes to enter into the world of esports being an accredited sport.

With Germany forming a proper esports association, yet another building block is put in place for esports to be considered as a sport by the IOC.

Mind Sports South Africa, being the oldest association for esports in the world, has already sent its congratulations through to those concerned.

Initio Gaming CS GO Team Takes on Europe

Initio Gaming CS GO Team Takes on Europe

With just one day before the ESL Go4CS:GO Europe Cup #273 powered by Intel Initio Gaming announces that it will be taking part with an entire Europe based Counter Strike team. The team is newly formed and this will be their first tournament together. Each player in the team has been tested before and all players boast online and LAN experience.

The team consists of five young and eager to improve athletes led by their fearless leader Jason “Salty_Jayy” Batzofin, surrounding him on all sides are the rest of the squad. Each with their own skill and each out to show Europe what they’re made of. Eddy “Fr0sty” Johnson, David "FeinT" Badalov, Niels "Nisse" Van Wayenberge and Jordan "Jarred_cat" Ayrton-turner. The team also boasts an array of Nationalities with players from the United Kingdom, Israel, Belgium and South Africa.  How these five met up and created a team we’ll never know. All we know is that they’re braying for blood and willing to go all the way to get it!

Tomorrow Sunday, the 15^th October, the team will embark on the start of their journey. Members of the team will be streaming the tournament from their perspective so be sure to tune in! The tournament will start at 13H00 British Standard Time and it is a knockout tournament so the better the team does the more you’ll get to watch them!

More about the Team and the players below:

Initio Gaming:

• ·         Website: https://www.initio-gaming.com/
• ·         Twitter: https://twitter.com/InitioGG

Jason “Salty_Jayy” Batzofin

• ·         Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/salty_jayy
• ·         Twitter: https://twitter.com/Salty_Jayy

Eddy "Fr0sty" Johnson

• ·         Twitch: https://twitch.tv/fr0styy_tv
• ·         Twitter: https://twitter.com/CS_fr0sty

David "FeinT" Badalov

• ·         Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/feint101
• ·         Twitter: N/A

Niels "Nisse" Van Wayenberge

• ·         Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/nissecsgo
• ·         Twitter: https://twitter.com/NVWayenberge

Jordan "Jarred_cat" Ayrton-turner

• ·         Twitch: N/A
• ·         Twitter: N/A

We wish them the best of luck! To the first of many!

Initio Gaming, from the beginning.

In the pursuit of victory!

Playing in international competition

CounterStrike: GO - Team eSports Romania with Team eSports South Africa

There seems to be a great deal of confusion in certain quarters about who may, and who is eligible, to play in overseas competition.

The short  answer is that any person may play in any private competition.

Thus any South African gamer may enter WESG, Dreamhack, ESWC, etc., as those competitions are privately owned and do not form part of the officially recognised circuit.

In fact it has always been part of MSSA's policy to encourage teams to enter such.

It should be noted that MSSA even helped Energy eSports attend the ESWC in 2014 by helping to obtain deferred exams for two members of the team so that they could attend such the event.

MSSA believes that until more teams experience international competition, the standard of gaming in South Africa will not improve.

Thus all clubs should take advantage of National Lottery Funding, as such funding allows for travel to such events.

However, it should be noted that a club team playing in an event in a foreign country does not mean that such team is representing South Africa.

Only a team officially selected by MSSA may claim to represent South Africa.

Only the team so selected may be awarded Protea Colours.

Any queries apropos the above may be directed to mindsportssa@iafrica.com

IeSF, announce “Protect Player”, the slogan for e-Sports Athlete Welfare

The International e-Sports Federation raised the topic of “Athlete Welfare” during the Global e-Sports Executive Summit, held in Shanghai from July 31^st to August 1^st.

Global e-Sports Executive Summit Shanghai 2016

Panel discussion “Athlete Welfare: How to support the education / Career of the players”

The panelists on the discussion for Athlete Welfare consisted of various stake-holders being; Charmaine Crooks, 5 times Olympian and the former member of IOC Athlete Commission, Spike Laurie, Vice President of International Business Development of ESL, Alex Lim, Secretary General of IeSF, and Koen Schobbers, Athlete Representative of Netherlands, have participated accordingly. 

“The remarkable development of the esports industry until now has been driven by professional and commercial level. Despite the fact that the competitive level of eSports is up to great standards, the structure to protect the rights, interests, and welfare of players is still at a very preliminary stage. This is the main reason why IeSF is continuously pushing for eSports to be recognized as an official sports, for eSports players to be protected as an official athlete and also receive the identical social benefits from public structures of society” said Alex Lim during his presentation prior to the Panel discussion of Athlete Welfare.

Lim added “Most of e-sports players spend their youth and teenage years doing eSports at a competitive level. For this reason, they have less opportunity to receive school education and acquire core life skills needed for the future. To establish a social safeguard for our youth and offer a successful career transition for second life careers, we would like to announce today our new slogan "Protect Player". IeSF will officially launch the International eSports Academy from September to support athlete welfare and athlete’s second life while also strive to expand the foundation of eSports”.

Global e-Sports Executive Summit Shanghai 2016

Alex Lim, Secretary General of IeSF, announced the slogan “PROTECT PLAYER”

Charmaine Crooks emphasized the importance of continuous conversation with athletes, and commented “To protect players, understandings on athletes current standing and situation is very important. The continuous interest of National Federations, International Federation, IOC and society is very crucial. Most important of all is the willingness of these governing bodies to listen to the voices of athletes”

“We start to act as professional player from teenagers” said Koen Schobbers,” Therefore, the role of parents is very important. The Generation of parents considers e-sports as video game rather than sports and therefore, there needs to be support for a thorough understanding. I believe it is necessary to accurately explain to the parents what the e-sports industry is and the career opportunities it has” mentioned Koen Schobbers.

Spike Laurie emphasized the challenges of the current system for education opportunities and stressed the necessity of collaboration between stake holders. “It is possible, but very difficult for player to conduct both school education and competitive gaming. This is mainly due to the tight schedules of different tournaments. One day they will be in USA, and the following week in China, and then back in Europe. For player’s education, there needs to be a understanding and a cooperation between the school, player, event organizers to make this possible” said Spike Laurie.

At the end of the Global e-Sports Executive Summit, IeSF officially announced the establishment of the Athlete Commission, as the first step to protect athlete’s rights, interests and welfare. Through recommendation from 47 member nations and internal reviewing of IeSF, five Athlete Commission members have been appointed; Young Ho Lee(Korea, Starcraft), Leonardo Ribas(Brazil, League of Legends), Jason Batzofin (South Africa, Counter Strike & Ancients Period), Koen Schobbers (Netherlands, Track Mania), and women athlete representative, Madeleine Leander (Sweden, StarCraft).

Athlete Commission Establishment : from left, Koen Schobbers(Netherlands), Young Ho Lee(Korea),

Jason Batzofin(South Africa), Byung Hun Jun(President of IeSF), Leonardo Ribas(Brazil)

On behalf of the Athlete Commission members, Koen Schobbers commented “It is honor to be selected as athlete representative of Athlete Commission. As the athlete representative, we will try our best to protect player’s rights and interests and welfare. And of course, listen to player’s voices to deliver and communicate to IeSF.”

The next step for the Athletes Commission is to support the foundation of the Athletes Commission in the right direction by listening and gathering the feedback of e-Sports athletes. Also the members will be working together to protect players by acting as a channel to voice for all e-Sports athletes to the IeSF. The first activities of the commission will take place during the 8^th e-Sports World Championships Jakarta 2016. For the reason that it is the first Athlete Commission in the e-Sports industry, in order to support the formation of the e-Sports Athlete Commission, former IOC Athlete Commission member, Charmaine Crooks will be sharing her knowledge as an advisor.

IeSF will continue its efforts to protect players and moreover to proceed its steps for e-Sports to be recognized as a true sport. The Athlete Commission established today is very preliminary, but has the vision to protect e-Sports athletes and also to work together with the IOC Athlete Commission in the future, after the recognition process is finalized for e-Sports.