Adele is inducted as a Provincial Umpire.

Morizane Boyes and Adele Janse van Rensburg

Umpiring is exhausting!

If you do not believe me, just ask anyone who has done it.

The position is not only physically demanding, but also requires a great deal of moral fortitude.

Mind Sports South Africa is thus fortunate to have Adele step up to the plate in order to 'give back' to the sport that she so loves.

Adele has been a loyal member for a couple of years, and believes in the vision that MSSA has for gaming, gamers and the sport as a whole.

Throughout the 34th Gauteng Championships, Adele was seen to be tirelessly performing her duties with a constant smile upon her face.

No task was to large or to small for Adele who proved to be worth her weight in gold.

Adele was heard to remark at the end of the championship, "I never realised that quite so much work went into running these events".

With Adele on board, MSSA is convinced that  it will go from strength to strength.

A new national umpire.

Johan van Breda

The survival and growth of any organisation depends upon the calibre of those who work tirelessly to make the organisation a success.

This is particularly true for volunteer organisations such as Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA).

Fortunately for MSSA there are many gamers who feel the need to 'put back' into gaming.

One such person is Johan van Breda.

Johan rose to fame in 2016 when he was selected to represent South Africa in the Protea League of Legends team.

The team participated in IeSF's 8th World Championships in Jakarta, where the team helped South Africa to earn a ranking of 14th in the world.

In a bid to further develop the South African gaming scene, Johan has volunteered to also umpire in order to introduce gamers to the standard that the players will find at international competition.

It  is largely due to the likes of Johan that MSSA is growing in leaps and bounds.

Results of MSSA's 2017 Gauteng Provincial Championships - 25 & 26 February 2017

St Stithians - the 2017 Gauteng Champions for League of Legends.

The Gauteng Provincial Championships have always been viewed as one of the most important championships leading up to MSSA's National Team Trials with the championships being the fourth last championship in which players may qualify for such Trials.

MSSA's 34th Gauteng Provincial Championships were more than ably hosted by Jeppe High School for Boys. The learners at the school showed sportsmanship of the highest order, and were kind and courteous to all the officials and players alike. 

It was pleasing to see that the championship attracted players from the Free State, Gauteng, North West, Mpumulanga and Western Cape, although the most inspiring aspect of the championships was the number of school teams that participated.

Not only was there a huge increase in the number of school teams that participated, but MSSA's belief in promoting school teams seems to be bearing fruit as the school teams totally upset the status quo by winning more periods than ever before.

Out of a total of 16 premier titles, 10 of such were won by learners.

The senior teams had to fight long and hard against the much improved school teams that challenged the senior teams at every turn as they fought for a place in the 2017 National Team Trials that will ultimately deliver a team to the IeSF's 2017 9^th World Championships.

Special mention must be made of Fakkel School, Hoërskool Wonderboom, Northcliff High School, SAHETI, and St Stithians. Such schools showed that they could take on the best, and delivered sterling results.

The improved depth in the standard of play bodes well for the future of all of South African gaming.

The winners of MSSA's 34th Gauteng Provincial Championships are:

Title	Name of player/team	Club	Colours awarded
Ancients (DBM) (female)	Anja Els	Teutonic Knights Mind Sports Club	Provincial
Ancients (DBM)	Sean Barry	Uplands College
CounterStrike: GO (female)	WolfPackxX	Knights Mind Sports Club	Provincial
CounterStrike: GO	PRO	PRO
CounterStrike: GO (High School)	Spartans B	SAHETI	High School provincial
DotA 2	PotM Bottom	PotM Bottom
DotA 2 (High School)	Pr0NHS	Northcliff High School
FIFA '17 (female)	Robyn Gertzen	Teutonic Knights Mind Sports Club	Provincial
FIFA '17	Xolisa Monakali	Knights Mind Sports Club
FIFA '17 (High School)	Joshua Williams	Pr0NHS
League of Legends	St Stithians	St Stithians
League of Legends (High School)	[PRIDE]	Parktown Boys
Mortal Kombat X (female)	Robyn Gertzen	Teutonic Knights Mind Sports Club
Mortal Kombat X	Aidan Chaplin & Connor Chaplin	Northcliff High School	Provincial
Mortal Kombat X (High School)	Logan Ortner	Northcliff High School
StarCraft II	Edwin Williams	3DE	Provincial
StarCraft II (High School)	Aidan Smale	Old Edwardian Wargames Club
Street Fighter V (female)	Leone Loftus	Fakkel School	Provincial
Street Fighter V	Alasdair Donaldson	Knights Mind Sports Club	Provincial
Tekken Tag Tournament II (female)	Kaitlyn Creighton	Masters of Mind Sports	Provincial
Tekken Tag Tournament II (female High School)	Leone Loftus	Fakkel School
Tekken Tag Tournament II	Gawie Fick	Fakkel School	Provincial
Tekken Tag Tournament II  (High School)	Aidan Chaplin	Northcliff High School
VainGlory	Pr0NHS	Northcliff High School	Provincial

The next event is MSSA's 21^st NORTH WEST Championships which is hosted by Curro Klerksdorp,

22 Elm St, Klerksdorp on 25 & 26 March 2017.

Photographs of MSSA's Gauteng Championships may be found on: https://www.facebook.com/pg/mindsportssa/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10155781264479008

OFM interviews Colin Webster

Here is a link to the podcast:

http://www.ofm.co.za/article/saturday-express-/228144/saturday-express-mind-sports-as-a-hobby-colin-webster-from-mssa-

MSSA committed to international competition.

MSSA's Colin Webster as a panelist at the Global E-Sports Executive Summit in China.

While organisations come-and-go, and some private organisations seem to be fickle in offering competitions to only dash the hopes of gamers upon the rocks by not remaining constant, IeSF and MSSA remain true to their membership and offer championships year-in-and-year-out.

With Africa being replaced by Brazil (which in itself is understandable as Brazil has a larger gaming community), gamers in South Africa should now realise that events driven by private profit-making organisations have their own agenda which is mainly about profit.

Non-profit organisations like IeSF and MSSA have a very different approach.

For such non-profit organisations, while it  is important to break-even if not make a profit, the main concern is growth and development.

Thus IeSF has, against all odds run its World Championships consistently since 2009 making it one of the oldest events in the gaming calendar.

Year	Title	Location
2009	IeSF Challenge	Taebaek, South Korea
2010	IeSF Grand Final	Daegu, South Korea
2011	IeSF World Championship	Andong, South Korea
2012	IeSF World Championship	Cheonan, South Korea
2013	IeSF World Championship	Bucharest, Romania
2014	e-Sports World Championship	Baku, Azerbaijan
2015	e-Sports World Championship	Seoul, South Korea
2016	e-Sports World Championship	Jakarta, Indonesia

MSSA too strives to develop and grow gaming at every level.

As a result, MSSA is utterly committed to participating in international competition.

Instead of hand-picking teams, players qualify for National Team Trials in a transparent system in order to deliver an annual national Protea Team.

It is therefore not surprising that through MSSA that 133 eSports athletes have received National Colours.

Will you be one of them?

The  numbers of players that have officially represented South Africa in eSports are:

Year	# of National Players (overseas)	# of National players (Test Match in SA)	# of National Players (online test matches)	Annual total
2016	12	0	3	15
2015	8	0	16	24
2014	10	0	5	15
2013	10	1	15	26
2012	4 (1)	0	9	13
2011	5 (2)	0	0	5
2010	9	0	0	9
2009	4	0	0	4
2008	1	5	0	6
2007	1	0	0	1
2006	10	0	0	10
2005	5 (3)	0	0	5
TOTAL	79	6	48	133

Notes:

1. Gabriela Isaacs won silver at IeSF's 4th World Championships - Cheonan.
2. Jaco Engelbrecht won silver at IeSA - Jeju.
3. Logan Brooke-Smith won gold at World Cyber Games.

Give everyone a chance to be inspired by mind sports.

Jade Klein - MSSA's Western Cape Provincial Director

There's not many activities that Jade Klein enjoys as much as playing computer games, and strategizing with her friends in an extremely competitive environment. 

Like many of MSSA's members, Jade is most excited to partake in international tournaments with her female team with respect to League Of Legends.

Jade feels that thanks to IeSF, and MSSA (with its new President, Morizane Boyes) and the continually updated regulations of both institutions that there is a greater possibility for her and all women to have a more equitable chance of competing on an international level.

Knowing that there is a great need to break down barriers and make this world more accessible to those who might not have access to a computer or any discipline run through the MSSA, Jade is determined to focus on introducing those neighbourhoods into game culture, and create an excellent setting for those who want to leave their old equipment in the cupboard and rather play the latest MOBA game with their friends, so they may too compete as she does.

As Jade emphatically states, "Our young are currently advanced enough and smart enough. I'd like to establish my role as a listener, supporter, organizer and give guidance in order to give not only our youth, but everyone a chance to be inspired by mind sports."

Now that Jade Klein has been appointed as the Western Cape Provincial Director, Jade's motto is: "Come on, jump on the gaming bandwagon with me!"

Important Notice: MSSA's 2017 Gauteng Provincial Championships - 25 & 26 February 2017

MSSA's Gauteng Championships shall be held on 25 & 26 February 2017 at Jeppe High for Boys.

However, it  should be noted that the water supply to the whole greater area of Kensington will be off for the entire weekend due to a bypass at the feeder water reservoir.

The school has arranged ablution facilities. There shall also be barrels of water in the bathrooms. Nevertheless all competitors are requested to bring a couple of bottles of drinking water each for their own consumption. The schedule remains as follows:

Saturday – 25 February 2017
Discipline	Period	Start time
Board games	Checkers	10H00
	Morabaraba	10H00
eSports	StarCraft II	9H00
	PES (Pro Evolution Soccer)	9H00
	League of Legends (LoL)	9H00
	Hearthstone	9H00
	Ultimate Street Fighter V	9H00
	Counter Strike GO	9H00
	TEKKEN TTII	14H00
Wargames	Ancients	9H00
Sunday – 26 February 2017
eSports	DotA 2	9H00
	VainGlory	9H00
	FIFA '17	9H00
	Mortal Kombat X	9H00
Wargames	Ancients (continuation)	9H00

Top ranked clubs from 2015 & 2016 Gauteng Championships.

Edwin Williams of Blue Dragon Online Gaming at the 2016 Gauteng Championships.

Mind Sport South Africa's (MSSA) membership consists of member clubs.

Such clubs are based at schools, universities, or are private associations or non-profit companies (NPC's).

The clubs in themselves may consist of as little as 1 team, or in the case of many of the school clubs, have a number of teams in most of the periods offered by MSSA.

Ever since MSSA started, points have been awarded to the clubs, rewarding them for the participation of each and every member club. These points are included into the Club Trophy which is used to determine the top club in the country.

Thus it is always exciting to see which clubs perform the best at the various championships.

Northcliff High which is currently the highest ranked school seems to be impressive in all the events in which the school participates, and is more than capable of taking on all the other clubs.

With MSSA's Gauteng Championships to be held on 25 & 26 February 2017 at Jeppe High for Boys, it will be most interesting to see the number of participants, as well as which club takes the pole position.

The results for  2015 and  2016 were:

2015 Gauteng Championships			2016 Gauteng Championships
Pos	Club		Pos	Club
1	Northcliff High School		1	Blue Dragon Online Gaming
2	Tuks Mind Sports Club		2	Northcliff High School
3	Knights Mind Sports Club		3	Knights Mind Sports Club
4	Riverview Mind Sports Club		4	Masters of eSports
5	HTS Witbank		5	BNKR
6	Pretoria Boys High School		6	All Stars
7	Old Edwardian Wargames Club		7	Old Edwardian Wargames Club
8	All Stars		8	Tuks Mind Sports Club
9	Vigilantes		9	St John’s College
10	Midstream College		10	Riverview Mind Sports Club
11	St John’s College		11	White Rabbit Gaming
12			12	BISH
13			13	St Stithians

More venues added.

Alwyn van Wyk - KwaZulu Natal Provincial Director.

Thank heavens for members who noticed an error on the Calendar of Events. Thank you Alwyn....

Also more and  more venues have been included as members have stepped up to the plate and have offered to host.

As usual it is a full year with many events.

2017 Calendar of events

Date	Event	Discipline	Venue
11 FEBRUARY	On-line Inter-school Provincial Championships	CS:GO, DotA, FIFA, LOL, SC, TTT II, VainGlory	On-line
4 & 5 FEBRUARY	25th Old Edwardian Summer Championships	Ancients, Checkers, FIFA ‘17, Morabaraba	Old Edwardian Society, 11 Ninth Ave., Lower Houghton
25 & 26 FEBRUARY	34th GAUTENG Championships	Board games, Card games, eSports, wargames	Jeppe High for Boys, Cnr Roberts Avenue & Good Hope Street, Kensington, Johannesburg
25 & 26 MARCH	21st NORTH WEST Championships	Board games, Card games, eSports, wargames	Curro Klerksdorp, 22 Elm St, Klerksdorp
22 APRIL	Provincial Online Championships	Dota 2, CounterStrike GO, League of Legends, Street Fighter V	On-line
29 & 30 APRIL	Gauteng Provincial School Championships	Board and Figure games	Old Edwardian Society, 11 Ninth Avenue, Lower Houghton, Johannesburg
29 & 30 APRIL	Provincial School Championships for Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, Mpumulanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape	Board and Figure games	TBA
6 & 7 MAY	National Team Trials	Morabaraba and Wargames	TBA
27 & 28 MAY	16th MPUMALANGA Championships	All	HTS Witbank, Beyers Road, Witbank
27 MAY	FINANCIAL AGM	Meeting	HTS Witbank, Beyers Road, Witbank
3 & 4 JUNE	eSports National Team Trials	TBD	TBA
24 & 25 JUNE	14th FREE STATE Championships	All	Fakkel School, 20 Jan Smuts Ave., Sasolburg
29 & 30 JULY	SA School Championships	Board, Figure and eSports	TBA
5 & 6 AUGUST	23rd KWAZULU NATAL Championships	All	TBA
12 AUGUST	StarCraft II, Hearthstone	eSports (PC)	On-line
26 & 27 AUGUST	22nd WESTERN CAPE Championships	All	TBA
TBA	Indigenous Games	Morabaraba	To be determined by SRSA
23 & 24 SEPTEMBER	16th EASTERN CAPE Championships	All	TBA
28 & 29 OCTOBER	6th LIMPOPO Championships	All	TBA
1 NOVEMBER	Submit nominations of office-bearers	Admin	mindsportssa@iafrica.com
2 & 3 DECEMBER	30th S A NATIONAL Championships	All	Fakkel School, 20 Jan Smuts Ave., Sasolburg
3 DECEMBER	33rd NATIONAL CONVENTION	Annual General Meeting	Fakkel School, 20 Jan Smuts Ave., Sasolburg
TBA	SRSA's S A Schools Championships	Morabaraba	To be determined by SRSA

Notes:

1. International events still need to be included.
2. Inter-Provincial events need to be included
3. Inter-regional events need to be included
4. Club events need to be included
5. Regional Championships need to be included.
6. Free State is moved to earlier in the year.
7. National Team Trials still need to be included