Shenandoah’s First Esports Tournament A Success

Shenandoah snagged two second-place finishes at its first competitive esports tournament, the Shenandoah Esports Collegiate Invitational, held on April 26 & 27.

Shenandoah’s varsity esports program, which boasts 32 members, came in second in the tourney’s League of Legends and Overwatch competitions. The event also featured a Rocket League competition, in which Shenandoah finished fourth. In all, 11 schools competed in the tournament.

The top three teams in each competition:

League of Legends

1. Northern Virginia Community College
2. Shenandoah University
3. Patrick Henry Community College

Overwatch

1. Northern Virginia Community College
2. Shenandoah University
3. Averett University

Rocket League

1. Radford University
2. George Mason University
3. Virginia Tech

The winning team in each competition received $250. Second place won $100.

The tournament drew about 350 people to the Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning, located in the lower level of Shenandoah University’s Health & Life Sciences Building. Joey Gawrysiak, Ph.D., director of Shenandoah’s sport management and esports programs, said the peak time for attendance was around lunch Saturday, when about 225 people turned out to check out the esports action, which was broadcast for viewers on a large-screen television. People who attended the free event could also pick up meals from food trucks, meet with local business vendors and play open video games.

Overall the event was a success and gives us a great jumping off point to host more of these in the future. The goal for this event was to expose the community to esports at Shenandoah and at the collegiate level around the region, and we certainly did that. The support from the community, Shenandoah, and visiting schools shows how much passion there is around esports, and this is just the beginning. We are planning to host tourneys like this at least once a semester going forward and we have so many great ideas we are already working on to take esports at Shenandoah and around the area to the next level.

The future of esports and Shenandoah is bright.”

Joey Gawrysiak, Ph.D., director of Shenandoah’s sport management and esports programs

In the fall, Shenandoah also launches its esports major, which has two tracks:

• management
• media and communication