St. Clair College’s Rocket League team is going International as they’ll be heading to Birmingham, England.
They will be representing Canada in the first-ever Commonwealth Esports Championships as part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games this August.
They qualified to represent Team Canada in the Open Division after finishing as the top Canadian team in The Gaming Stadium’s Rocket League Open event held in April.
In June, they traveled to Dallas for the first-ever Collegiate Rocket League World Championship where they finished tied for third place in an event that featured 16 of the best college programs from across North America and Europe.
Five players, two coaches, and two administrative staff will fly to England to compete.
Shaun Byrne, Esports Director at St. Clair College says this event is a test for future years.
“This is the first time that the Commonwealth Games ever has an Esports element, kind of like a test that they’re doing this year to see how well it does and then moving forward, if it goes well, Esports might become a regular part of the activities at the Commonwealth Games.”
He says how the players are feeling with the event just a few days away.
“Some of these host countries have professionals on their rosters, so it’ll be definitely a test for our players, but so far they’re feeling really confident. Basically they’re putting in practices and scrimmages just about every night of the week in preparation for this tournament. So, I think they’re feeling really good going into this, they’re confident.”
Byrne adds how important this is to the students to be given this opportunity to travel for the competition.
“It’s just a great opportunity for the students, and we’re hoping that as Esports continues to grow that more opportunities for our players to travel and compete all over the world continue to pop up for us to take advantage of.”
The Saints will face-off against seven other countries in the CEC with teams representing England, Kenya, India, Jamaica, Wales, Australia and South Africa.
The tournament begins August 3 through August 7.
-with files from AM800’s Rob Hindi
Be the first to comment