Official South African National eSports Teams - 2013

All photographs are taken from the MSSAs facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mindsportssa/photos_albums

The BATTLEFIELD 3 TEAM:

Captain: Barry 'Anthrax' Louzada

Photo on the left shows members from the team from the Gauteng area.

The photo on the right shows members of the team from Cape Town.

StarCraft II Test Match between South Africa and Romania:

Robert 'PandaTank' Botha (South Africa) in action against Silviu 'NightEnd' Lazar (Romania)

Gabriella 'GabyBear' Isaacs at a film shoot on gaming:

Dota 2 Protea Team:

Team captain: Anthony 'Scant' Hodgson

StarCraft 2 - Dreamhack, Bucharest:

Nathan Anderson

Team eSports South Africa - 2013 IeSF World Championships:

Team captain: Lyrene Kuhn

The team participated in League of Legends, Tekken Tag Tournament II, and StarCraft 2.

Will Kyle still dominate in 2014?

Kyle Turnbull (left) playing against Abubakar 'Mikkael' Ebrahiem

The 2013 MWEB Mpumalanga Championships in May 2013 delivered a number of surprise results where the 'Old Guard' was taken down by the 'New Turks'.

Of the surprising results, probably one of the most notable was the victory achieved by the young Kyle Turnbull.

Even though Abubakar Ebrahiem, who represented South Africa at the 2011 IeSF World Championships in South Korea, competed in the championships, young Kyle Turnbull still dominated the event. The match between Abubakar Ebrahiem and Kyle Turnbull ended in a draw, but the number of outright victories earned by Kyle ensured that he won the 2013 MWEB Mpumalanga Championships. Abubakar Ebrahiem had to, quite uncharacteristically, settle for second place.

Kyle Turnbull then only competed in the 2013 MWEB South African National Championships in December 2013.

Again Kyle showed his true form and skill and totally dominated the rest of the field. At times it seems as though Kyle is at one with the controller.

Kyle waltzed through all of the opposition to win all the games that he played.

As a result, Kyle Turnbull was awarded, apart from first place, his Primary School Provincial Colours, Senior Provincial Colours, Junior National Federation Colours as well as Senior National Federation Colours.

Kyle walked away from the SA National Championships as the most decorated player ever from any one MSSA event.

Now with the 2014 MWEB Mpumalanga Championships just days away (24 & 25 May 2014), all eyes turn towards Kyle Turnbull to see if he can remain unbeaten on his home turf in the popular game of FIFA'14®.

With the MSSA going to be engaging in a number of international on-line test matches in the game, the other top players are all deep in training as without doubt, Kyle Turnbull is now the front-runner in the game and for a place in the official national Protea Team.

MSSA's MWEB 2014 Mpumalanga LAN Championships - 24 & 25 May 2014

Registrations are open for MSSA's MWEB 2014 Mpumalanga LAN

Championships.

The Mpumalanga Championships are fast growing in popularity and have grown in size from year-to-year. The 2013 Mpumalanga LAN Championships saw 22 players get awarded provincial colours and 67 players qualify for National Team Trials.

Registrations will close on the 16 May 2014. Players who wish  to compete in any of MSSA's Championships are advised to complete their annual registration forms so that they may registered as Registered Players as soon as possible. Late entries will be accepted in exceptional circumstances.

All gamers are reminded that the Mpumalanga championships is an open championship.In other words any registered player is entitled to enter the championship – no matter where they live, or their category of membership. If you have any queries, please contact the MSSA.

Championship Details:

Hosting Club: HTS Witbank, Beyers Street, Witbank

• Venue: HTS Witbank, Beyers Street, Witbank
• Date: 24 & 25 May 2014
• Entry Fees: R60.00 per Registered Player per Period
• Computers: Bring your own. Please ensure that all game updates are done prior to arrival.
• Schedule: The LAN Schedule for all 2014 is:
  

SATURDAY:
Time	StarCraft II	Call of Duty: Ghosts	League of Legends (LoL)
09H00	Round 1 Starts	Round 1 Starts	Round 1 Starts
09H45	Round 2 Starts	Round 1 Continues	Round 1 Continues
10H30	Round 3 Starts	Round 2 Starts	Round 2 Starts
11H15	Round 4 Starts	Round 2 Continues	Round 2 Continues
12H00	Round 5 Starts	Round 3 Starts	Round 3 Starts
12H45		Round 3 Continues	Round 3 Continues
13H00	LUNCH
Time	TEKKEN TTII	Call of Duty: Ghosts	LoL (continued)
14H00	Round 1 Starts	Round 4 Starts	Round 4 Starts
14H45	Round 2 Starts	Round 4 Continues	Round 4 Continues
15H30	Round 3 Starts	Round 5 Starts	Round 5 Starts
16H15	Round 4 Starts	Round 5 Continues	Round 5 Continues
17H00	Round 5 Starts
18H00	Awards Ceremony
19H00	Doors Close
SUNDAY:
Time	Dota	CounterStrike	OSU	FIFA '14
09H00	Round 1 Starts	Round 1 Starts	Round 1 Starts	Round 1 Starts
09H45	Round 1 Continues	Round 1 Continues	Round 1 Continues	Round 2 Starts
10H30	Round 2 Starts	Round 2 Starts	Round 2 Starts	Round 3 Starts
11H15	Round 2 Continues	Round 2 Continues	Round 2 Continues	Round 4 Starts
12H00	Round 3 Starts	Round 3 Starts	Round 3 Starts	Round 5 Starts
12H45	Round 3 Continues	Round 3 Continues	Round 3 Continues
13H00	LUNCH
Time	Dota (continued)	CounterStrike  (continued)	OSU
14H00	Round 4 Starts	Round 4 Starts	Round 4 Starts
14H45	Round 4 Continues	Round 4 Continues	Round 4 Continues
15H30	Round 5 Starts	Round 5 Starts	Round 5 Starts
16H15	Round 5 Continues	Round 5 Continues	Round 5 Continues
17H00
18H00	Awards Ceremony
19H00	Doors Close

Rules and Regulations: All Rules and Regulations pertaining to eSports are available from the MSSA. Players are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with the LAN League Bylaws and all Period Specific Rules. If any Player wishes to provide advice regarding the drafting of the Period Specific Rules they are encouraged to contact the eSBoC who will take all comments into account.

The following Medals may be awarded at the MSSA's 2014 North West LAN Championship:

• PREMIER: Medals shall be awarded to the first three players who are registered players.
• SCHOLARS: Medals shall be awarded to the first three high school scholars, provided they have not received any Premier medals.
• UNIVERSITY:Medals shall be awarded to the first three players who are currently registered at any officially recognised University, provided the players have not received any Premier Medals.
• WOMEN: Women will be awarded medals as per the same basis as above, that is in all three categories.
  

Colours and National Team Trials:

• National Colours: All Players that win all of their Matches at a National Championship will earn National Colours.
  
• Provincial Colours: All Players that win all of their Matches at a Provincial Championship will earn Provincial Colours. All Players who score within the top 50% in a specific Period at a Provincial Championship, and who also score within the top 50% at a National Championship in the same period and in the same year, will earn Provincial Colours.
  
• National Team Trials: All Players that score within the top 20% or top three places, whichever is greater, in a specific Period at a Provincial or National Championship will earn an invitation to National Team Trials. National Team Trials shall be held in the event that a National Team must be selected to represent South Africa when competing in such Period in an International Championship.

Please note that the MSSA does not carry stock of shirts that are awarded. Registered Players who are awarded colours will thus be awarded at an event that they attend after being so awarded.

The next provincial; event is: The MWEB Eastern Cape Championships that shall be held on 28 & 29 June 2014.

Some Random Slackers win the 2014 MWEB Dota 2 On-line Provincial Championships

From left to right: Saleem 'Slimz' Manjoo, Jason 'Mehcrim' Bredberg, Tim 'Zealot' Mostert, Dylan 'Pixelpusha' Henderson, Ion 'NotioN' Todd

It was in the annual MSSA's MWEB Dota 2 On-line Championships that the team 'Some Random Slackers' from the Knights Mind Sports Club showed no quarter as they cut their way through one opponent after another showing their true mettle.

The MWEB Dota 2 On-line Championships were the last chance that the South African gaming community had to qualify for the 2014 Protea Team Trials.

While many teams had taken advantage of the year long qualification period, there were a few teams that left qualification for the National Team Trials to the very last minute.

The Cape Town based team 'Some Random Slackers' was just one such team. All five members of the team are from Cape Town. The team members of 'Some Random Slackers' are; Ion 'NotioN' Todd, Tim 'Zealot' Mostert, Jason 'Mehcrim' Bredberg, Dylan 'Pixelpusha' Henderson, and Saleem 'Slimz' Manjoo.

Nevertheless, the team seemed to work well under pressure as they demolished each and every team that they were drawn against.

Such was the skill of the team, under the leadership of Ion 'NotioN' Todd, that the team ended up winning all their games and thus also earning themselves Western Cape Provincial Colours at the same time. Only the two teams from Tuks University tried to stop the relentless onslaught, but to no avail.

The team has thus too sailed through to qualify for the Protea Team Trials in which 17 other teams have also qualified to make the 2014 National Team Trials the most hotly contested trials ever. It is at such trials that the MSSA shall select the official South African National Team that shall play in a number of on-line test matches.

The results of the MWEB Dota 2 On-line Championships are:

Dota 2: Premier

	Name of Team	Club	Pts
1	Some Random Slackers	KMSC	8
2	TMSC Rekt	Tuks	6
3	TMSC Sabotage	Tuks	4

Dota 2: High Schools

	Name of Team	Club	Pts
1	MotD'	Woeries	2
2	NWD	PR0NHS	0

From club to national federation to international federation

With the debate surrounding what is, or isn't, a national federation, it is important for people to know how federations are formed.

Although I will be writing in general terms, the basics apply to practically every national federation.

It all starts with the individual!

All you need is one individual who wants to play with other individuals. Eventually through a sense of community, the individuals playing together form a society to reflect their common interest in the game, and as such a club is born!

Then the newly formed club looks for other clubs to play against. Should they not find any, the club either stagnates and eventually dies, or it boldly, and unabashedly, promotes the growth of other clubs.

Once the clubs have created a framework for competition, the clubs generally come together to form the federation.

As such, the club always precedes the federation.

The MSSA (https://www.facebook.com/mindsportssa) is no different. Some of the member clubs date back as far as the 1970's (Wits Wargames Club which was founded in 1979) whereas the federation was only founded in 1985.

This is true for swimming as well where clubs in what was known as the Transvaal were founded as early as 1884, but the Transvaal Swimming Association was only founded in 1902.

Even in football, a British club like Cambridge was founded in 1846, the Football Association (English) was only founded in 1863 whereas the international federation (FIFA) was only constituted in 1904.

However, what is important to note is that at no time does government become involved in the creation of these national sport bodies.

In fact government involvement is decidedly frowned upon and discouraged by the international controlling bodies.

So, just like any other sport, eSports has done its time in developing the national federation with the first clubs being formed in the 1970's, the national federation being formed in 1985, and the international federation (the IeSF) being formally constituted in 2008.

Few gamers will understand the amount of work that it has taken a small group of dedicated people to get eSports to this level, and many of those who have poured their hearts and efforts into this project may very well be forgotten over time. However, the legacy of having a non-profit structure that is dedicated to the promotion of the games and a structure that is dedicated to serving the gamer will endure for many decades to come!

Leagues and championships for SA females

Oh the shock, the horror, the indignation!

Today gamers had a new talking point. On a couple of fora, gamers have expressed their outrage at why the MSSA should hold leagues and championships just for female gamers.

The main argument is that eSports in particular, and gaming in general, is not dependant on race, class, or gender!

While it is true that females are better drivers, are generally more intelligent, have a better sense of smell, have a better ability to identify hues, and have better social skills, many females remain excluded from all the benefits that society affords.

So it is true for gaming!

There are very few females who are involved in gaming. Those that have entered the fray have had to overcome almost insurmountable odds and have been at the wrong end of intimidation, vulgarity, and boorish behaviour.

The achievements of female gamers are often attacked by various male gamers in an attempt to diminish their achievements in what seems to be a puerile display of jealousy.

Not only that, but the games being promoted often do not express the female gamer's story.

Most of the games are written using the male experience, designed by men and programmed by men.

As a result, the game that comes out does not reflect the female gamer's life experiences.

So with so much still being unknown about the differences between males and females, how can one claim that both genders are the same?

But more than that, why are there male gamers who have taken such affront to separate leagues and championships for women.

Is it not great that double the amount of people can benefit from the advantages?

Is it not great that both males and females have the opportunity to equally represent South Africa?

Why would any man want to deny a female the opportunities that representing South Africa affords them?

What could be the possible reason for one half of the population to deny the other half the opportunity to represent South Africa?

The heated outrage by a few gamers certainly makes you question their motives, does it not?

Could it just be that those that are upset just do not want to share?

S A interschool on-line league!

A recent post on the MSSA's facebook page

(https://www.facebook.com/mindsportssa) read as follows:

“Over the weekend the Management Board approved (among many other things) the eSports Board of Control's plans to implement an online inter-school league.”

It is interesting to note that the MSSA already has a number of schools involved in gaming.

Pretoria Boys High School has been a member of the

MSSA for over 10 years. Other notable schools are St John's College and Roedean.

Of course, one cannot ignore Northcliff High School either which dominated at the recent Gauteng Championships.

However, before anyone asks why there has not been a school league up to now, the answer is simply, there has been.

The physical inter-school league got off to a slow start in 2011.

Although there were a number of schools interested, only a prtion of the interested schools could deliver and begin participating.

2012 saw a greater number of schools coming into the league.

Almost immediately the league started bearing fruit as young

Gabriella Isaacs from SAHETI was propelled upwards into the national Protea Team that represented South Africa at the 2012 World Championships in South Korea.

The growth experienced in 2012 was further cemented in 2013 with even more schools affiliating to the MSSA.

Such was the growth of school clubs, that at the majority of senior Provincial Championships, and at the S A National Championships, it was school teams that outnumbered the other teams.

The 2013 S A National Championships saw learners attend from all but two of South Africa's nine provinces.

Not only that, but the championships also saw the greatest amount of female participation than ever before at a S A National Championships.

But I digress!

The announcement now deals with the introduction of an on-line league.

It is hoped that the on-line league will lead to even greater interaction between schools, and will further improve the standard of gaming in South Africa.

Considering that the teams may only participate from a school venue, with the Educator-in-charge being present, it is also hoped that the average level of sportsmanship will too be improved.

The results of the league will then be distributed to the media.

2014 is going to be a good year!

Results: MSSA's MWEB 2014 Gauteng LAN Championships - 29 & 30 March 2014

Sent out by the MSSA:

The MSSA was faced with doing a venue change just three weeks before the event due to certain connectivity problems being experienced by the host club. Anyone who has ever organised a LAN will know the problems that having to change a venue at short notice pose to the organisers and more importantly the participants. However, the membership rallied, and a new venue was found in the form of HTS Tuine in Pretoria. Special thanks must be extended to the school for accommodating the event, and to all those individuals that made it happen. The school proved itself by having all the requirements to host a successful championships, and thus, the championships were held without a hitch on 29 & 30 March 2014.

The support given by MWEB again proved to be invaluable to the MSSA, and as a result of such support members were able to enjoy the benefits of participating in an official LAN championship. It is through the official championships that gamers are able to qualify for colours and for national team trials. In other words, the official championships form part of a year year  long qualification process for gamers to  prove their worth in order to be selected to finally, and officially, represent South Africa in international competition.

Nine member clubs from three provinces contested the championships. However, there was not the turnout in female gamers as experienced in North West, but it was pleasing to see the number of mixed female and male teams in the team events. Certainly, compared to 2013, there was a greater number of female participation at the Gauteng championships. Obviously the emphasis that the MSSA is putting on the development of females in gaming is starting to bear fruit. It is hoped that the 2015 championships will see even more female gamers especially now that the MSSA makes provision (in accordance with IeSF rules) to hold competitions in all titles for both female and male teams and/or players.

The championships saw the newly formed Tuks Mind sports Club take the lion's share of the medals, but also saw the Mpumalanga based All Stars Gaming Club assert its dominance in the CounterStrike GO and OSU titles.

The winners of the different titles are:

BOARD GAMES

Checkers

Male – Premier
Pos	Team	Club
1	Lubabalo Kondlo	Dr Niederhoffer Memorial Club

Morabaraba

Male – Premier
Pos	Team	Club
1	Morne Snyman	Tuks Mind sports Club

eSPORTS

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Male – Premier (PC)
Pos	Team	Club
1	Team Pink	Tuks Mind Sports Club

Male – Premier (PS3)
Pos	Team	Club
1	PR0NHS	Northcliff High School

Male – High Schools
Pos	Team	Club
1	Woeries	Verwoerd High School

CounterStrike GO

Male – Premier
Pos	Name	Club
1	Delta 5 Gaming	All Stars

FIFA '14

Male – Premier
Pos	Name	Club
1	Corbin Duvenhage	Northcliff High School

League of legends

Male – Premier
Pos	Team	Club
1	Senior Team	Tuks Mind Sports Club

OSU

Female – Premier				Male – Premier
Pos	Team	Club		Pos	Team	Club
1	Lucille Brown	HGH		1	Thomas Brown	All Stars

StarCraft 2

Male – Premier
Pos	Team	Club
1	Pieter Piek	VnR

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Male – Premier
Pos	Name	Club
Tie 1	Ruan van Staden	Tuks Mind Sports Club
Tie 1	Brandon van Rensburg	Northcliff High School
Tie 1	William Rawlings	Northcliff High School

Male – High Schools
Pos	Team	Club
1	Bevan Stukise	Northcliff High School

FIGURE GAMES

Ancients

Male – Premier
Pos	Team	Club
1	Garth Schoeman	Knights Mind Sports Club

In total, 23 gamers earned the right to wear Provincial Colours. A further 11 students were awarded Student provincial Colours and 10 learners were awarded High School Provincial Colours. All those that were awarded the various Provincial Colours were immediately given both their certificates and a high quality 195gsm golf shirt to indicate that they had received such colours.

It should also be noted that Lucille Brown was awarded Provincial Colours for OSU. Lucille is the first female to earn provincial colours for the title, and it seems as though she will be most competitive in the game.

The MWEB championships too saw a total of 73 gamers qualify for National Team Trials. With so many gamers qualifying for trials, there is no doubt that the MSSA will have sufficient teams in order to select teams to represent South Africa.

Photographs can be found on https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152714719854008.1073741875.146018324007&type=3

Upcoming events:

12 & 13 April 2014 - Gauteng Schools Championships for Board gaming and Figure gaming
19 April 2014 - MWEB Online Dota 2 Championships
24 & 25 May 2014 - MWEB Mpumulanga Championships 

Liability for other people's comments.....

The following statement appeared on a blog in which an open letter was written to a sponsor of the MSSA, “Well if you had read the article you'd see that it wasn't us writing it.. but someone else”

Basically the owner of the blog was trying to distance himself from accepting responsibility for an article that he printed on a blog that he owns.

But what does the law say?

Please be so kind as to take note of the following:

In the matter of DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH V RAYAN SOOKNUNAN the facts are briefly that Mr Sooknunan put up a Facebook page which was then exploited by members of the public to post inflammatory and defamatory content directed at the church.

The Church brought proceedings against Sooknunan to cease and desist, as well as for damages incurred.

Sooknunans defence was that he was not responsible for content as he had not posted it.

The Court ruled that as Sooknunan was responsible for the Facebook page and allowed such defamatory content to be posted, based on his control of the site, he was liable for the defamation of the church.

It follows that any party who controls a page, blog, Internet home page, Facebook page etc., is not only responsible for own content, but all content posted to such a page.

It is therefore critical to monitor all content, regardless of origin, edit and remove all unwanted content.

Thus it is not good enough to state “Well if you had read the article you'd see that it wasn't us writing it.. but someone else”, because by allowing the article on your page, you are actually agreeing to such article and making yourself liable.

Scary, is it not?