All four comprehensive high schools compete in second annual PYLUSD Esports Tournament

Students from El Dorado, Esperanza, Valencia, and Yorba Linda high schools checked in at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Esports Arena on Tuesday, May 28 to participate in the second annual Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD) Esports Tournament.

Back in January 2018, all four PYLUSD comprehensive high schools joined the Orange County High School Esports League (OCHSEL), a program dedicated to connecting students’ interest in esports to sportsmanship, entrepreneurship, and STEM interests. For the 2018-19 school year, OCHSEL became a part of the North America Scholastic Esports Federation, known as NASEF.

In NASEF, teams throughout the nation compete against each other weekly in the game League of Legends, a team-oriented strategy game set in mystical forests where competitors select avatars with unique fighting skills. Official NASEF matches concluded in April, but will start again next school year.

By following a round-robin tournament format, each school had the opportunity to compete for PYLUSD League of Legends supremacy. The afternoon was filled with competitive esports face offs, and although a winner was not crowned due to time restrictions, students and coaches alike still had a fun time showcasing their gaming and collaboration skills.

The PYLUSD Esports Tournament was made possible by the District’s K-12 Innovation and Technology team under the direction of Director, Cary Johnson. A special thanks also goes out to the UCI Esports Arena for hosting.

NASEF is made possible by corporate sponsors Blizzard Entertainment, Bloody Gaming, HyperX, Recycle My Machine, Riot Games, Tespa, and UCI Cybersecurity Policy & Research Institute, as well as the Samueli Foundation, Orange County Department of Education, UCI Esports, OC STEM Initiative, Connected Learning Lab, Emerald Foundation, Connected Camps, UCI Samueli School of Engineering, and UCI Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences.