British Esports engages with students and teachers at WorldSkills UK Live 2018

The British Esports Association had a stand at WorldSkills UK Live, the UK’s largest skills, apprenticeships and careers event, from Thursday November 15^th to Saturday 17^th.

We hosted more than 1,000 Rocket League matches and saw thousands of visitors visit the stand to play and learn more about esports, its benefits, career opportunities and the British Esports Championships for schools and colleges.

The stand was packed across the three days at the Birmingham NEC as students and teachers gathered to try their hand at Rocket League and ask about esports and the opportunities it presents.

British Esports staff, volunteers and guests engaged with visitors and spoke to them about the possibilities in esports.

Guests helping at the stand included teacher Mark Ward, students and British Esports Championships Overwatch players Bailey Barber–Scargill and Harrison Barber-Scargill from from St. John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy, as well as Team Vitality Rocket League manager Mike “Gregan” Ellis.

British Esports hired epic.LAN Business Services for the event, who provided the systems, networking capabilities and helped set up the stand to ensure everything was running smoothly. Its MD Jon Winkle was on hand and helped at the stand.

British Esports staff at the event included Natacha Jones, Tom Dore, Chester King and Dom Sacco.

Capital FM radio DJ Rob Howard also visited the stand to play Rocket League against students and learn more about esports.

Mark Ward, Head of Computer Science, Business and Vocational Studies Faculty at St. John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy, said: “We had a blast! For me, it was great to be able to interact with pupils who are passionate about gaming and give them an avenue in to competitive esports that they’d maybe not thought about before – that is, via school!

“Even better though was the chance to share with other teachers the impact esports is having at St John Fisher and seeing before my eyes how views were literally changing as I was speaking to them. Many had no idea of what was involved in esports, let alone the career opportunities and the wider, incredibly positive impact it can have on students.

“Hopefully a few of the contacts I made on the day will get in touch and take me up on my offer of coming in to see what’s happening at grass-roots school level. We loved being a part of the event!”

Overall, more than 400 Rocket League matches took place across the three days, for some 20 hours and at least 5,000 visitors to the stand.

In pictures: View images from the event here

A special thank you to all our volunteers and staff who helped at the show:

• Giovanni Gontor
• Douglas Packham
• Tom Beer
• Frederick Houlder
• Mike “Gregan” Ellis, Team Vitality
• Mark Ward, St. John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy
• Bailey Barber–Scargill, St. John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy
• Harrison Barber-Scargill, St. John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy