QE Esports Teams Make History at Daigon World Championships
The Daigon School Esports World Championships were held last week from Wednesday to Saturday at the Playcon gaming conference in Malta.
The event is the culmination of Daigon's esports season, which has featured hundreds of teams from dozens of countries around the globe. Q-Esports are the new kids on the block. The upstarts. 2 1/2 years ago, Q-Esports didn’t exist. 1 year ago, we didn’t have a single Minecraft player, let alone a full team. And we qualified not one, but two teams into the event.
Intense Matches Against International Teams
Wednesday was a big day for Juniors. Huge games against teams from Saudi Arabia, China, the UK and elsewhere stamped their presence on the world stage, and they finished the day in the semi-finals. Team GB Esports coaches were watching (and scouting). Maltese MPs were watching. Later, one of the Team GB coaches and I chatted about leadership, the future of esports in education, and the evolution of teamwork. “Every team has an Emily, you know,” he explained to me, “and a Hudson, a Parker, a Hannah, a Lincoln, a Sam and an Owen. Those roles happen organically. The difference with QE? Cohesion. You don't play for the win, you play for each other.”
At the UK championship finals in London, back in January, the top 4 qualified for Malta. We finished 5th. A lonely place to be. We got here through last-chance qualifiers, and now we faced the team responsible for that. Heading into Thursday evening, Juniors had a semi-final to win against the team that beat us so heartbreakingly back in January, and Seniors had three matches, with any loss meaning our trip was over. On the way there, one of our senior players had to be rushed to the hospital.
Overcoming Setbacks and Last-Minute Challenges
I needed Juniors to be able to compete without knowing what had happened. Beforehand, I pulled Seniors out and shared the news. No, I didn’t know what had happened. No, I’m not sure if he’ll be at the hotel later, but I’m confident we won’t have him at the fixture. “Never mind the fixture,” Selim snapped at me, “I need to know that he’s okay or we’re all going to the hospital right now.” Thankfully, at that moment I received a text to tell me that he was doing much better, and I relayed this. Under no circumstances were Juniors to know.
Juniors played incredibly. At 1-1 with one minute left, I made a big call and pulled captain Emily out, putting the more attacking presence of Owen into the mix. It worked. Owen pulled one player out to the side, Parker held off three at once, leaving Hudson to dive inside the enemy base pick up the flag and run back. He weaved through attacks and with just 10 seconds left on the clock, slotted the flag home. 2-1 to #TeamQE. We are in the final.
The Spirit of QE Esports
I didn’t have time to let them enjoy the moment. After the game, I pulled them into a small alcove near the entrance. I explained what had happened to our senior player. Their euphoria turned to horror. Afterwards, Emily told me that I did the right thing in not telling them beforehand, but that she was furious with me for not doing so. I also told them that I needed to put Parker into an incredibly difficult position and have him play for Q-Esports Seniors.
QE’s Felix was the player of the tournament. Both on and off the game, his performance was exemplary. Fighting back waves of panic and tears from concern about his friend, he put his arm around Parker and calmly chatted through the tactics. I pulled him and Selim to the side and told him the news I’d just had: our student was fine. He was so fine, in fact, that he'd been cleared by the doctor to play in our fixtures and was heading to the event by taxi. Felix roared, punched the air, then dropped to his knees, face in his hands. Selim looked as though he might pass out.
These games are no joke. A multi-international all-star team and a strong German side. Coolly, calmly, and professionally, they dispatched them. We brought Emily and Parker on as subs in the last few minutes of the Seniors semi-final as thanks for their efforts. Perhaps predictably, Emily sat down and immediately started barking out orders to the Seniors team, who were, in some cases, 7 years older than her. An extraordinary leader.
Inspiring the Future of School Esports
Later, I was interviewed on camera. With the emotion of the day, concern for my student, and running on reduced sleep, I remember little of the interview. One question I was asked, however, was around whether I was ever surprised by the friendships that are formed in esports. I threw everything I had into keeping it together, and felt my voice crack slightly as I explained that it doesn’t matter who we are or what we’ve done outside- when we step into the esports room, we all have a shared identity. We are #TeamQE.
Sometimes, great sporting achievements are difficult to explain to the outside world. “It’s like trying to win the Kentucky Derby,’ said one American journalist following Leicester City’s 2016 Premier League title win, “on a cat.” Esports is even harder to define in terms of parallels because there are none. QE finished second in both competitions. The first thing I said in emails back home was to apologise for not putting our name next to ‘First Place’. I mean it. But the pride I have in my teams is beyond words. This team, this group of amazing people who, by and large, had no idea of one another's existence just 12 months ago, have done the impossible: QE are the only school on planet Earth to bring two teams to this competition. Had one of them even made it as far as a Third-Place Playoff, I'd have been over the moon. But they were never going to lie down and just accept that. Two teams, both on the podium.
I've said before that I believe we're the best school in the world. Our conduct and performance at this event have been universally praised, and we've left plenty of people believing the same thing that I do.
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