Dozens of students from across Calgary and area, and as far away as Drumheller, took part in the inaugural Zone 5 Alberta Scholastic Esports League (ASEL) Super Smash Bros. tournament over the weekend.

Some 75 students representing the Calgary Board of Education, Calgary Catholic School Board, and the Rockyview School District, among others, battled for supremacy in an elimination Super Smash Bros. tournament at the Bow Valley College esports arena.

It was the first outside tournament run by Bow Valley College, and represented the opportunity for students between Grades 7 through 12 to battle it out in a competition that eschewed the usual inter-school sporting norms.

Scott Blenkhorne, a Learning Technology Specialist with the Calgary Board of Education and the Zone 5 representative for the Alberta Scholastic Esports League, said this was one of the few opportunities for students of different grades to compete with each other.

“It doesn’t matter in terms of gender as well, it’s very, very different than a lot of traditional sports, because it goes through any of those barriers. So it’s quite exciting to see students come from all different walks of life,” Blenkhorne said.

“For many of them, this is their first opportunity that they’ve been able to engage in where they can represent their school, because they’re not necessarily involved in the athletics in their school or the academic opportunities in their school.”

That ability to transcend the usual physical differences that puts student athletes into different categories, is what made the weekend tournament quite different.

Students in the elimination matches cut across age barriers, because the determinant for winning at Super Smash Bros. is down to reflexes and skill, rather than raw physical differences.

“Smash Brothers has a very low threshold for entry. It’s quite easy to pick up a controller and just jump in and play, and yet we also find that it has a very high ceiling cap. The difference between a beginner player and professional level player is quite high, and I think that’s one of the reasons why it’s a title that’s been recognized globally as an esports title,” said Blenkhorne.

Mixing college courses with pleasure

Jonathon Kayln, a Grade 11 student from Western Canada High School, was one of the students who made it into the finals late on Saturday afternoon.

He said that it was his very first esports tournament outside of his school, although he had previously placed second in an in-school tournament.

“I’ve heard of tournaments being very chaotic, and this one’s actually been rather relaxed from what I expected,” Kayin said.

He said being in Bow Valley’s new esports arena made it feel like he really was in a professional level tournament.

“You’re not just playing on some crappy chairs or whatever. You got nice chairs and nice setups and everything,” Kayin said.

The tournament was broadcast using the college’s professional level broadcasting booths and had play-by-play commentary by members of the college’s esports management program.

Eddie Sargent, Associate Dean of the Chiu School of Business, said their part in the tournament was not entirely altruistic—part of the goal in making the arena available was to encourage high school students to consider esports as a study and career path once they graduated.

“It’s really important for us, because engaging with students at the high school level to make them aware of the Esports Business Management Program is selfishly important for the college when we look at enrolment,” he said.

“But also I heard someone share a story today. They were walking by a student, and they said, ‘this is the first time I’ve ever worn my school’s jersey to represent my school, and they hadn’t had that opportunity with traditional sports.’ That also hit home. This makes a difference, this type of event, to ensure that student has a great experience in high school.”

He said that making the students feel really welcome at Bow Valley College was an important way to encourage them on their high school educational journey.

Sargent said that included letting all of the high school students know that there was a possibility of earning dual esports management credits for both high school and university just by being involved in esports.

“We’re working with a whole bunch of different school divisions in the region to offer that programming. It looks like in the fall that the number of students enrolled in dual credit programming will actually eclipse the program itself,” he said

“That’s been a really important area to build those bridges and ensure that students are just, even if it’s not esports, just to be aware of different careers at the high school level.”

Improving academic performance for high school students

Sargent said that on the Bow Valley College side, it also meant giving students the confidence and skills to build from tournaments like the weekend’s into hosting major international ones.

“It starts with these small- and medium-sized esports events. That’s why the space is so important, and why the training program is so important—that’s the connection that we’re going to see. These students are going to graduate not just with classroom experience, but the real world experience of ‘OK, the three people didn’t show up, we need to redo the tournament bracket last second,” he said.

In fact, that is what happened with the tournament over the weekend, said Blenkhorne, after their timing for closing the competition signup and then students not showing up, with others showing up unexpectedly meant the tournament went from 64 to 75 on Saturday.

He said the benefits outweighed any reason to limit players.

Blenkhorne said giving students who wouldn’t otherwise be involved in athletics a chance to compete meant also improving academic performance for high school students who might not otherwise be as connected to their schools or their future careers.

“Whenever we’re able to increase our students’ interest in post-secondary opportunities it’s a great thing, because that builds motivation. All of a sudden it’s coming from them, as opposed to their parents or their teachers saying, ‘this is what you need to do for your future,'” he said.

“There’s actually been a number of research articles published in the last five years or so that show that students they get involved in esports, there’s a significant portion of those where their attendance improves. If students are attending school more often because they want to be involved in these opportunities, then their academic achievement improves as well.”

As for Kayln, he said he wasn’t aware that he could earn college credits before the tournament, but was interested after he learnt about them.

“You know, if it’s free credits. I can’t complain.”