esports News
1/15/25
Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season and we are excited to welcome you back for a great 2025! Below you’ll find details for upcoming competitive opportunities.
PETE&C Winter Tournament – We are inviting 8 Mario Kart teams to join us on Monday, February 10 at the Hershey Lodge for this year’s PETE&C tournament! The tournament will run from 10am-3pm and will be single elimination. Each team is invited to bring 2 players, 1 alternate, and 1 coach. To register, fill out the first tab here with your school and coach contact information. We are limiting this opportunity to one team per school.
PSEL Spring Season – Congratulations to our Fall State Champions! We are now getting ready to go for a great Spring season. We are taking your feedback from the Fall and working to make things even easier!
- Times: All matches will be played at 3:30pm (if you need to reschedule, you can contact the opposing team, but if they cannot reschedule, you’ll take a forfeit) For more information on rescheduling a match – https://help.playvs.com/en/articles/4919262-how-to-reschedule-a-match. If you forfeit, you’ll be required to email a PSEL league administrator and multiple forfeits may result in probation for future PSEL seasons.
- Titles and Days
- High School: Valorant (Tuesdays), Super Smash (Wednesdays), Fortnite (Thursdays), Rocket League (Thursdays)
- Middle School: Rocket League (Tuesdays), Super Smash (Thursdays)
- Unified High School: Rocket League Duos (Wednesdays) – this is designed for teams with 1 student in special education programs to play with 1 partner athlete
- Registration – We will be using the Play VS tournament platform this season. All of our titles will be run as Pennsylvania-only competitions, culminating in PA State Championships! Once you’ve registered for each title you plan to play, you’ll need to add your students. This might take a little time, so we recommend doing this at least a week before the season starts.
- Dates
- Preseason: Weeks of 1/27/25 & 2/3/25
- Regular Season: Weeks of 2/10/25 – 3/31/25
- Playoffs: Throughout April
- Finals: Face to face in May (date TBD)
- Finals – Finals will be held IN PERSON ONLY. We are finalizing the date for May 2025 and will get that out as soon as possible. Please plan now to travel to spectate or participate.
- Mandatory Meeting – Before the Spring season starts, a coach for each team must attend the Mandatory Pre-season Coach Meeting. To make this easier, we are providing two date options. You only need to attend one of the meetings.
- Thursday, January 23 from 3:30-4:30
- Tuesday, February 4 from 3:30-4:30
- Who to Contact for Support:
- Issues regarding PlayVS platform: support@playvs.com
- Assistance enrolling on the PlayVS platform: success@playvs.com
- All other PSEL or season related questions: Matt Swan at matthewsw@cciu.org
PSEL Partners – Over the last year, we’ve heard your request for additional supports and we are excited to deliver! You’ll see us announcing a few new partnerships over the next couple of months, but we have some we are already able to share! We now have access to curriculum and coaching resources through USAEL, Gameplan, STEM Forged, and NASEF. If you’d like to learn more, please reach out and we can connect you directly with the best person to talk to.
Excited for a great Spring with you all!
Best,
Kammas & Matt
8/27/24
New Partnerships!
PSEL x STEMForged – We are happy to finally bring in an answer for coaches who have been asking for support in developing their own knowledge of the titles we offer, as well as a way to truly coach your players to improve their in game performance. STEMForged offers a variety of modules that coaches can utilize to help develop skills and knowledge related to some of the most popular titles in esports. These modules can also be utilized in conjunction with direct coaching from game specialists reviewing film with a team/player. STEMForged also offers Game Design curricular support if you are looking to bring esports concepts into the classroom: https://www.stemforged.com/
PSEL x Exclaim – While this partnership was announced last year, we are happy to kick off our scholastic esports season with one of the best apparel suppliers out there. Register through PSEL (where you will receive a discount) and take a look at the Exclaim website to find some of the best apparel items to outfit your esports teams. Exclaim offers high quality products that are fully customizable to fit the logo, color scheme, and overall style that would represent your school the best: https://exclaim.gg/enroll/psel/psel
3/15/24
Hello PSEL,
Due to the PSSA and Keystone testing windows, we will be moving the date of the Spring State Finals.
The finals will now be held on Tuesday, May 28. They will still be in person at Harrisburg University.
Good luck to all of our teams!
1/16/24
Hello Coaches,
It’s officially time to register for the PSEL Spring esports season! We are very excited to build on the success we saw during the Fall season, which culminated in our first in person finals to determine the state champions in 3 different titles. The Spring season will see a few changes in the titles being played, and our games/schedule will be as follows:
Tuesday: Rocket League, High School, 3 v 3
Wednesday: Rocket League, Middle School, 3 v 3
Wednesday: Chess, High School, 1 v 1 (Each team will field 3 players who will all play 1 match. Bo3)
Thursday: Chess, Middle School 1 v 1 (Each team will field 3 players who will all play 1 match. Bo3)
Thursday: Valorant, High School, 5 v 5
All matches will be held at 3:30pm, barring extreme circumstances. Teams are asked to plan in advance to be available on the day and time matches are scheduled. Our Spring regular season will run through the week of April 23rd, and will be followed by our virtual playoffs. All playoff matches ( quarter & semifinals) will be played online from each team’s respective school. Our in-person finals will take place on Tuesday, May 14th at Harrisburg University. The finals will feature the top two teams from each title, and teams MUST ATTEND in person. If you believe that attending the finals in person may be an issue for you and your players, we ask that you let us know ahead of time so that we do not include your team in the playoffs in order to guarantee finals attendance.
We will also be running a Unified Esports League this Spring! Seeing the impact of unified Bocce in many schools across the state has led us at PSEL to want to mirror that through esports. We will be accepting application for Unified Rocket League teams, and this league will run on Thursdays at 3:30 to avoid any potential overlap with our standard Rocket League schedule. If you are interested in having a unified RL team, please look at our Unified Ruleset to make sure you qualify.
If you are interested in registering a team (or multiple teams) we ask that you fill out this Google Form by February 14th. We will have a mandatory coaches meeting on February 20th from 3-4PM. This meeting will serve as our main form of communication with all coaches prior to the beginning of the season, and you must be present in order to field a team to compete this Spring. If you have any questions about the match format, play times, etc. please reach out to me and we can schedule a time to meet via Zoom. I’ll be happy to discuss any specifics with you at that time.
Lastly, we have an additional esports opportunity for any interested coaches and player prior to the start of our Spring season. On Monday, February 5 at the Hershey Lodge (conference center), we will be hosting a 4 team, face to face Rocket League competition. Due to space restrictions, we can only take 4 teams. Each team can bring a maximum of 3 competitors, 3 subs, and 2 adults. To register, please fill out one of the 4 rows in this spreadsheet:
We will take the first 4 teams that register. Once we have the 4 teams, we will ask you to submit your rosters so that we can get badges made for all coaches and students that will be in attendance. The competition will start at 10am and will wrap up with a trophy presentation between 3:30 and 4. We are asking for teams to register that have students who would also be willing to share their esports story with educators and participate in free play with educators when they aren’t actively playing. This is a great student leadership opportunity.
Thanks for all that you do for esports in your schools, and GLHF!
10/24/23
We are excited to share with you the Rube Goldberg 10-Pin challenge using Unreal Engine. Unreal is used to design special effects and video games, so we are thrilled to share this opportunity for students to get hands on with software that is the industry standards.
Teams can register until November 30. The challenge is open to everyone! This is a great way to elevate your esports program, robotics program, or STEM club.
The GLOBAL Unreal Engine Rube Goldberg 10-Pin Challenge Competition is underway! We are currently in the ‘pre-season’ as individuals are working through the lessons in the Unreal Engine Rube Goldberg learning kit to prepare to create their full Rube Goldberg Machine in Unreal Engine.
We are still hosting livestream sessions on the Cleverlike YouTube channel on Wednesdays at 6pm ET. Schedule for the remaining livestreams:
October 18, 2023 6pm ET: Exploring additional features of the Rube Goldberg Kit, Open Q&AOctober 25, 2023 6pm ET: Techniques for capturing your submission video, Open Q&ANovember 1, 2023 6 pm ET: Reviewing the Competition Rubric, Open Q&A
December 6, 2023 6pm ET: Award Show!
If you’ve missed (or would like to re-watch) any of the previous live streams, they are available on the competition website and on the Cleverlike YouTube channel.
There is still plenty of time to register and get involved. Registration is OPEN NOW and the submission link will be live Nov 1 to 30 so make sure all final Rube Goldberg Machines are submitted by Nov 30!
There are two divisions, and this event is open to everyone!
Junior Division: Ages 17 & UnderSenior Division: Ages 18 & Older
10/11/23
Thanks to all of you who are participating with us for our Fall season! It has been great to see so many teams participating. We are excited to invite you to attend two great events with us this Fall.
NAECAD Coaches Clinic – November 3, 2023 at Harrisburg University – PSEL has worked with HU to bring NAECAD to Pennsylvania! NAECAD is the National Association of Esports Coaches and Directors. They will be putting on a 1 day clinic for coaches and providing Act 48 credit. This will be an action packed day for both new and veteran coaches, featuring game specific coaching on League of Legends and Rocket League, sessions with scholastic esports experts, and time to network with colleagues. Register here to join us
Face to Face Tournament at Everyone Games PA – As we had announced at the beginning of the year, we will be hosting the face to face tournaments at Everyone Games PA! This invitational portion of the day will be held at Carlisle High School on Saturday, October 28. We are looking for the top teams in the state to join us for a competitive tournament in Rocket League, Valorant and League of Legends. We are only opening 8 spots per game title. Please register as soon as possible. Reach out to Matt Swan at MatthewSw@cciu.org with any questions. Coaches can register teams here.
9/29/23
We hope you are all enjoying the start of Fall. As you may or may not know, PSEL is the NASEF affiliate for the state of PA. This means we get to share unique opportunities taking place. Please see below for upcoming scholastic opportunities for your students. We are particularly excited about the NASEF collaboration with Chief Science Officers (CSO) as PA also has a statewide CSO program. If you have any questions about these opportunities, please let us know.
Career Skills + Prizes
NASEF members are invited to join the NASEF x Venture Valley Entrepreneurship Beyond the Game Challenge! Venture Valley is a free-to-play video game that brings entrepreneurship skills to life as players build businesses and complete virtual in-game challenges. Kids play the game and strive to get their highest score, then submit a Flip video (or write-up) describing what they learned. Teams that get the highest score win grants for the sponsoring org/school and Amazon scholarship cards for themselves. In addition to the game, we’re holding an open AMA with the founders of 404 Creative, a development agency that specializes in brand activations developed in Unreal Engine Fortnite Creative. It’ll open kids’ eyes both to the game developer career and what it’s like to run a business. Sign up for the Challenge today!
Rocket League + Career Skills + HUGE Prizes
Rocket League streamers and players – don’t miss this! The NASEF x NRG Carvana Combine will engage high school students in an incredible competition with a path-to-pro showcase that will be broadcast live in LA from the legendary NRG Castle and hosted by Rocket League legends Musty, GarrettG, and Chell. This incredible opportunity includes the chance to win an NRG Content Creator contract and a $10,000 signing bonus. Players will showcase their video production skills to enter. Round 1 of entries is due October 8; don’t delay! We’ll also hold an open AMA with key NRG staff and popular streamer Musty – more real-world insight. Sign up here. There’s about a week to create those first entry videos, so get rolling!
Leadership Development Support
NASEF is partnering with the Chief Science Officers program to offer a Leadership Training program with a dedicated Esports Cabinet. Students will attend a Zoom to learn key leadership principles, then they’re encouraged to execute an Action Plan that involves esports (such as presenting about esports to the school board, joining a NASEF challenge, or organizing a tournament). Details here.
8/18/23
We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the Fall Pennsylvania Scholastic Esports League and will remain open until September 12, 2023!
Fall PSEL Info Session: If you have questions or would like to meet our team, we will be hosting an info session on Friday, August 25 from 11am-12pm via Zoom. You can register for the Zoom link here. All are welcome as we will be answering questions about registration, team composition, and changes for this season. This meeting is open to new and veteran coaches and administrators.
Eligibility:
- Your organization must be an active member of PSEL. If you have not yet registered with us, you can register here.
- Your organization must be in the Commonwealth of PA.
- Each organization may register up to 4 teams per game title.
- Your organization must commit to having a coach present for all matches.
- Your organization must confirm that your technology is up and running prior to registering.
- Your team must be prepared to play at 3:30pm on the day of the matches, barring extreme circumstances.
Registration Process (new this year!):
- Create an account in UGC (our tournament platform) and create teams within your account for each team you plan to register
- Submit this Google form to register (it will require you to have your rosters for each game title including required subs)
- Once your registration form is reviewed, your team will be invited to join the UGC scheduling system
Thank you for your patience as you roll out this new system. We are hopeful it will help avoid issues that we had last year. Thank you for your dedication to esports and to your students.
8/1/23
We have been busy at work with some changes and exciting updates for the Pennsylvania Scholastic Esports League!
What’s new this year? Lots! We’ve been hard at work this Summer.
- We are moving to two longer seasons per year, Fall and Spring, each of which will have a face-to-face State Championship held at Harrisburg University! The top 4 teams in each division will be invited to the Championship to play and all are invited to spectate.
- Fall and Spring seasons will be 6 weeks, followed by a buffer week which will allow teams to make up any matches prior to the finals.
- Teams will be required to have full rosters and subs to register for the season. You will register via Google form where you submit the roster before you are given the UGC link to register your team.
- Each season will kick off with a mandatory coaches meeting. You MUST plan to have one of your coaches attend this meeting to ensure all coaches are prepared to help their teams succeed in PSEL.
- When you register, you will be asked to identify your IU region so that we can begin creating regional brackets within the season. Your registration will also include confirmation that your technology is up and running prior to registration to minimize forfeits during the season.
What are we playing this Fall?
Registration: Aug 15-Sept 12
Season Play: Sept 26-Nov 28
Mandatory Coaches Meeting: Sept 19, 3-4pm
- Tuesdays
- Rocket League, High School, 3 v 3
- Wednesdays
- Rocket League, Middle School, 3 v 3
- Super Smash Bros Ultimate, High School, 3 v 3
- Thursdays
- Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Middle School, 3 v 3
- League of Legends, High School, 5 v 5
- All matches will be held at 3:30pm, barring extreme circumstances. Teams are asked to plan in advance to be available on the day and time matches are scheduled.
- State Championship – Date TBD at Harrisburg University
What are we playing this Spring?
Registration: Jan 15-Feb 14
Season Play: Feb 27-April 23
Mandatory Coaches Meeting: Feb 20, 3-4pm
- Tuesdays
- Rocket League, High School, 3 v 3
- Wednesdays
- Rocket League, Middle School, 3 v 3
- Chess, High School
- Thursdays
- Chess, Middle School
- Valorant, High School, 5 v 5
- All matches will be held at 3:30pm, barring extreme circumstances. Teams are asked to plan in advance to be available on the day and time matches are scheduled.
- State Championship – Date TBD at Harrisburg University
What about Winter?
- We are hoping to run some sprint seasons/tournaments during the Winter in titles like Brawhalla and Overwatch 2. We are working to get permission from these game developers to run the events. More information to come!
- We chose to focus on longer Fall and Spring seasons and the in person finals this year.
Will there be additional face-to-face events?
- Yes! Stay tuned for information on Everyone Games PA and PETE&C tournaments
- We are also looking to host additional college and career events