Northcliff High School heads another national ranking.

Thomas Johnson (Northcliff High School) 

Without any notice Thomas Johnson (Northcliff High School) stormed out of the shadows to win MSSA's Gauteng Provincial Championships, earn Gauteng Provincial Colours, and shoot to the top of the national rankings.

Thus Thomas has dislodged SA National Champion, Linda Swanepoel, of the prestigious position.

It is not surprising that Northcliff High School should provide new talent. The school has, in the past, produced two Protea players (Robert Botha, and Ian Pillay), and with having the second oldest school esports programme in South Africa, continues to lead the way.

The current rankings for the HearthStone esports title is as follows:

Pos	Name of Player	year	Club	Points
1	Thomas Johnson	19	Northcliff High School	142.4
2	Linda Swanepoel	18	Fakkel School of Skills	125
3	Mark Thomas	19	Northcliff High School	110.9
4	Gawie Fick	18	Fakkel School of Skills	109.8
5	Grey Craven	19	Curro Aurora	109.3
6	Orlando Crossling	19	Northcliff High School	107.1
7	Cobus van der Wath	18	Fakkel School of Skills	105
8	Kaira Gabrielle Pinard	18	Valhalla	105
9	Wesley Smith	18	eThekwini Regional	105
10	Beon Bronkhorst	17	JCS Academy	105
11	Zoë Ayerst	18	eThekwini Regional	105
12	Pieter Lourens	17	HGH Witbank	105
13	Wynand Meiring	17	BNKR	105
14	Aaron Mulligan	17	Maritzburg College	105
15	JC Smidt	18	Parys High School	105
16	Adele Janse Van Rensburg	17	GenerationX	105
17	Devan Conradie	18	eThekwini Regional	105
18	JP Cosmo	18	Parys High School	105
19	Cyrus Huang	19	Northcliff High School	105
20	George Griffiths	17	HTS Witbank	104.5
21	Durandt van Dyk	17	JCS Academy	104.5
22	Alexander Westley	17	Maritzburg College	104.5
23	Edgar Barnes	17	BNKR	104.5
24	Dylin Nieuwoudt	18	eThekwini Regional	104.5
25	Junior Moor	18	Empangeni High School	100
26	Kean de Almeida	18	Northcliff High School	99.7
27	Kevin Plint	18	Northcliff High School	95.2
28	Eugene Pieterse	17	Generation X	95
29	Arend Roux	18	Parys High School	95
30	Durandt Lampregt	18	JCS Academy	95
31	Kyle Voster	19	Curro Aurora	95
32	James Griffiths	17	HTS Witbank	90.3
33	Lloyd Little	17	Maritzburg College	90.3
34	Steven van der Schyff	18	eThekwini Regional	90.3

Rankings produced by MSSA are as follows:

• Senior Ancients Wargames
• Senior Checkers
• Senior Clash Royale
• Senior CounterStrike: GO
• Senior DotA 2
• Senior FIFA '18
• Senior HearthStone
• Senior Injustice 2
• Senior League of Legends (female)
• Senior League of Legends
• Senior Morabaraba
• Senior Mortal Kombat X
• Senior Pro Evolution Soccer (PES)
• Senior StarCraft II
• Senior Street Fighter V
• Senior Tekken 7 (female)
• Senior Tekken 7
• High Schools Clash Royale
• High Schools CounterStrike: GO
• High Schools DotA 2
• High Schools FIFA
• High Schools HearthStone
• High Schools League of Legends
• High Schools Paladins
• High Schools Street Fighter V

Also read:

• The new national team selection criteria.
• Why schools and universities should invest in esports.

• 2019 Calendar of Events
• Esports: MSSA's 23rd Western Cape Championships - 23 & 24 March 2019

Northcliff High School continues to lead the way in Esports.

Athletes at Northcliff High School's Inter-House Esports Competition.

Eighty-three gamers fought it out on Saturday, 27 January 2019 in the annual inter-house Mind Sport LAN. Dragoon narrowly won ending on 59 points with Cairn a close second on 58 points. Eight titles were played on the day including Fortnite, CSGO, DOTA 2 , League of Legends , FIFA '19, Street Fighter V, Clash Royale and Hearthstone. The teams and players who won their titles will represent the school at MSSA's 9th Online Inter-school Provincial Championships on 9 February 2019.

Also read:

• 2019 Calendar of Events
• Why schools and universities should invest in esports.
• 9th Online Inter-school Provincial Championships

2018 Gauteng Sportsmanship Award goes to...

Kit Rawlings of Northcliff High School.

At every Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) Regional, Provincial, and National LAN Championship, the umpires decide on who shall receive the sportsmanship award. At the end of the year, the winners of such awards are then considered to see who is the winner of the annual Sportsmanship Award (Dorian Love Trophy) as awarded at MSSA's Annual General Meeting.

Some years it is easy, and other years it is extremely hard to determine who should receive the award.

MSSA's 2018 Gauteng Championships gave the umpires an almost near impossible task.

There were just so many Registered Players from which to choose.

Nevertheless, the umpires applied their minds and went through the many names, until, eventually, there was only one.

The name remaining was that of Kit Rawlings of Northcliff High School.

Thus the umpires, with one voice, unanimously agreed to award Kit Rawlings the 2018 Gauteng Sportsmanship Award.

There is no doubt that Kit represents all that is good in competition. His kind, generous, and courteous demeanour never wavered throughout the competition.

Kit remains an asset to his family, school, and esports.

Northcliff High shows its skills.

Northcliff High School's Mikhyle Naidoo 

As mentioned in my article "Northcliff dominates VainGlory.", Northcliff has a long (in eSports terms) and successful history in eSports having produced not only Provincial and national champions, but also having produced members of the national team as well.

Thus it is no surprise that, at MSSA's Online School Provincial Championships played on 11 February 2017, Northcliff High School once again demonstrated its commitment to eSports by dominating the title FIFA '17.

And dominate it, they did...

Northcliff High School took all three of the top places.

However, special mention must obviously go to Mikhyle Naidoo who through his unsurpassed skill, lead from the beginning to take the title  of overall  MSSA School Online Champion.

The results of the top three are:

Pos	Team Name	School
1	Mikhyle Naidoo	Northcliff High School
2	Joshua Williams	Northcliff High School
3	Kristian Volek	Northcliff High School