St. Clair College has become the first post-secondary institution in Canada to officially sanction a varsity eSports program. Over the past few years, the collegiate eSports scene has grown rapidly across the United States, with numerous varsity eSports teams competing against each other for monetary prizes. While there are a variety of post-secondary institutions in Canada that have eSports clubs, it was not until this past summer that a post-secondary institution in Canada chose to completely invest in a varsity eSports program.

Shaun Byrne, the eSports director for Saints Gaming at St. Clair College, explained that all players from the program's various eSports teams receive a scholarship towards their education. “Most players will receive somewhere between $500 and $1500 per semester to put towards their tuition,” Byrne said. In regards to the upcoming year, students who apply to play for a varsity eSports team could receive up to a full ride scholarship depending on their skill level and tournament gaming history.

At St. Clair College, eSports athletes receive the same treatment as varsity athletes on traditional sports teams. As a result, these eSports athletes must maintain a good academic and social standing to remain on their team. In addition, eSports athletes have coaches, team jerseys and their travel expenses covered via the college.

Currently, St. Clair College's eSports program has teams for the following popular eSports titles: League of Legends, CounterStrike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Byrne explained that the teams compete against other varsity eSports teams in the United States as well as other post-secondary institutions in Canada who compete under an unofficial club status and are not funded by their post-secondary institution.

The college has also invested in an eSports training facility dubbed “The Nest”. The training facility offers 12 high-end Alienware PCs for eSports varsity athletes to practice on to improve their skills and teamwork. Alienware, one of the sponsors for the St. Clair College eSports program, donated the PCs to the facility. The training facility also has a livestream recording set-up as well as console stations for the Super Smash Bros. players to practice. “We also have an open gaming lab for students who are not on the varsity teams to just hang out, play video games and practice in order to try out for our teams,” Byrne said. According to Byrne, the gaming lab has 30 high-end PCs for gaming enthusiasts to hone their skills and practice with their friends.

In regards to tryouts, candidates are put into scrimmage matches in order for the coaches to watch them compete and take notes, akin to traditional sports tryouts. “We put their skills to the test, take notes and try to put together the strongest squad we can,” Byrne said.

According to Byrne, players usually practice for about three to six hours a week as a team in addition to participating in one or two scheduled matches. However, each team has a different training schedule and hours/matches vary.

Phong “the young falcon” Hua-nguyen, a student in the business management program at St. Clair College, is a member of the League of Legends team. League of Legends is a popular multiplayer online battle area (MOBA) game. Hua-nguyen, who is currently ranked Diamond V (top one to two per cent of the player base), has been playing League of Legends since the game's first ranked season went live about seven years ago.

Hua-nguyen said he first heard about the League of Legends team when Byrne, who is also one of Hua-nguyen business professors, suggested that he should tryout. According to Hua-nguyen, the team meets twice a week to practice for at least six hours in total. In addition, the training facility allows him to practice with better gear than what he has at home.

Regarding the remainder of the eSports season, Hua-nguyen said he is most looking forward to traveling to different post-secondary institutions to compete. “It's very exciting. It pushes me to improve myself because before [joining the team] I was just playing for fun.”

The Fanshawe Ultimate eSports League (FUEL) is a new initiative on at Fanshawe College this year, which allows students to compete in weekly videogame tournaments. The league offers four games for students to compete in: Super Smash Bros. Melee, Rocket League (1v1), Overwatch (arcade mode 1v1 mystery duel) and FIFA 18. Each week, the Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) keeps track of rankings.

Tyler Hetherington, the Events and Activities Co-ordinator for the FSU, said that he hopes to grow the Fanshawe eSports league to eventually include team games and varsity teams, similar to St. Clair College's current eSports program model.

Competitive gaming at St. Clair College has flown under the radar until just recently. Byrne explained that the information technology club has hosted multiple annual gaming events on campus for the past 12 years. One of the most popular annual tournaments hosted by the club is called the No Man's LAN Tournament.

The most popular eSports event at St. Clair College is Saints Gaming Live, which made a successful debut last year. According to Byrne, 500 players participated in the gaming tournaments hosted over the weekend and the event was livestreamed, generating 65,000 viewers. The Saints Gaming Live event will return this May. Byrne explained that a total of $20,000 to $30,000 in prizes will be handed out to winners and the planners are aiming to attract 750 participants and 100,000 livestream viewers.

Over the past few months, the eSports program has also received a number of sponsors, which have helped the program become successful. Some of the sponsors include: DXRacer, Alienware, PC Outlet, Subway, St. Clair Alumni Association and more.

“We are receiving messages from new people daily that are just learning about this program and really want to get involved,” Byrne said. The varsity program has received approximately 300 applications during its first year, and the program leaders are aiming for 500 applications by June 2018.

In addition, St. Clair College is in the midst of developing an academic diploma program called “eSports Administration and Entrepreneurship”.

According to Byrne, the two-year program (with the option of adding a third year and finishing an advanced diploma in sports and recreation management) will consist of a mix of business and sports management courses along with various eSports focused classes.

“One of the cornerstones of the program will be the eSports media production courses which students will take in all four semester,” Byrne said.

He explained that the classes will teach students how to create content for Twitch and YouTube, two important media platforms in the eSports industry