Rapid growth in e-sports in South Africa's schools

702's Relebogile Mabotja speaks to Nick Holden the Co-founder and Director of African Cyber Gaming League (ACGL) and Christie Stanbridge the Hyprop Brand and Campaigns Marketing Manager about embracing e-sports and adding gaming to the schools curriculum.

Listen below:

Holden says e-sports appeal to many kids who may not be good at traditional school sports.

He notes that two years ago it was offered by only 15 schools and today over 250 schools have embraced it.

It's creating a new space for kids to shine and have community. It's also building leadership qualities like teaching them how to strategise, he says.

In terms of growing e-sports in schools, Holden says there are many barriers to entry like expensive data for online gaming and the equipment that's required. He says that's why they try to ensure that the competitions are all free to enter.

"Being able to come to an environment, see that it's fun, it's social and it's connected. And people can go there and start playing and essentially just start to get to know the community because that's really, actually one of the core things that we're trying to build here."

- Nick Holden the Co-founder and Director of African Cyber Gaming League

And what about those teachers and parents who are concerned about violence in fighting games and too much screen time?

Holden says they always advocate for having a balanced lifestyle.

"To all parents I would say just become a part of it, see what it's about... If your kids are playing games - usually they are in some way shape or form - do you not want that to be in a structured environment with people around and community around that can care and structure that? Or do you just want to leave it to the wide space of them just being able to play online or play gaming? And that's where we jump in, we want to make sure it's a structured environment."

- Nick Holden the Co-founder and Director of African Cyber Gaming League

Stanbridge has details of upcoming competitions:

"Our next tournament up in Johannesburg is going to be at Woodlands in Pretoria from the 13th to the 16th. You can go to the Woodlands website to check everything out and then straight after that towards the end of June we're at the Glen Shopping Centre in south Jozi. And then in early August we're going to be in Clearwater Mall."

- Christie Stanbridge the Hyprop Brand and Campaigns Marketing Manager