British Esports Championships: COVID-19 Guidelines

Due to current COVID-19 safety measures, we understand that many schools/colleges will face certain restrictions in the new academic term such as increased online learning, social distancing, and potentially the inability for students to partake in extracurricular activities after school. 

Our default position remains that we expect all Champs matches to take place in a supervised, classroom environment. However, given the national situation around Covid, if this is not possible we want to ensure students can still participate and represent their school or college in the Champs. Therefore, if playing from a classroom at school/college is not a legitimate option given the ongoing situation, then we will be allowing students to play from home.

All students must still follow our code of conduct and the Leader must supervise to the best of their ability, even if this is remotely. We will review our code of conduct regularly and update, if necessary, regarding our policy on students playing from home.

This guide aims to help schools and colleges who have to have some/all students participate in the Champs from home. 

 

What the teacher/Leader must do:

• Continue to supervise their esports team(s) to the best of their ability, either remotely or directly in the classroom as normal. If you have students playing from home, we strongly suggest establishing a private Discord server (or suitable alternative) to allow your team(s) to communicate and stay in touch.
• Make sure all students are aware of, and have read, the code of conduct and rules.
• Ensure the team is ready for fixtures and made aware of any reschedules.
• Update the team, and the BEA admins, of any potential issues asap.
• Get results from the team for their fixtures and update the site with the scores straight away.
• Be available online on the Champs Discord server during key match times.
• Forward details of in-game names/rosters and invites to opponents and their team(s).
• Ensure students have the correct hardware / software to allow them to play from home.
• Communicate with relevant parents as appropriate.

 

What the student players must do:

• Follow the code of conduct and ruleset.
• Remember they are representing their school/college in official fixtures.
• Update the responsible staff member regularly.
• Nominate a student captain who can assist in organising the team and making sure matches are played on time.
• If a student is playing from home, they will need the correct software and hardware to participate in matches.

 

How we can help: 

• Offer assistance with helping staff team leaders create their own private Discord server for their esports team(s). More info on how to create a Discord server.
  • Schools and colleges can use any preferred communication platform (e.g. Microsoft Teams / Slack) that will help enable the student players and staff team leader to keep in regular contact with each other for fixtures.
• Support from our admin team and BEA staff.
• Flexible rescheduling for our fixtures (any reschedules must be made in advance of original match time).