10-05-2025
Esports competitors descend on Calgary for Alberta Championship
Children aged between 10 and 18 years pile into two rooms on the second floor of Bow Valley College's south campus building, darkened lighting with rows of tables piled with computers. The screens flash, displaying unique colourful worlds with characters bouncing back and forth, attempting to land a kick or punch on the opponents.
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The real opponents, the children, sit in front of the screens, headphones on, fully engaged in battle and to survive for the top spots at Super Smash Bros.
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Elsewhere, in the official esports arena, kids compete at Rocket League, an arcade-style vehicular soccer game. Later in the day, teams will come together to compete in Valorant, a tactical hero-shooter video game.
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The Alberta Esports Championship has begun its second year at Calgary's new esports arena in the south campus of Bow Valley College and the mood is infectious.
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Starting Saturday, the championship will continue through the weekend and has drawn more than 200 competitors, a mix of junior high and high school students from 25 schools across the province to battle it out for the top prizes, but also to get a chance to play their favourite video game on a provincial stage.
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'It's lively,' said Shadi Hanna, academic development lead with the Alberta Esports Association. 'The kids are are cheering when they're winning. They're giving each other fist-bumps when they score a goal, or whatever it is. It's that community camaraderie feel that sport brings. For us to be able to do that with video games is just such an awesome thing.'
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The tournament marks the final event for the association's calendar year, as well as the biggest. 'We ran a total of 10 events throughout the year, the idea being, is that we wanted to give kids several opportunities to compete, to practise, to train,' he said.
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The concept for a provincial tournament came to fruition last year when the tournament was held for the first time in Lethbridge. 'Gaming is not a new or foreign thing,' Hanna said, and yet for years it had been thought of as a hobby played in the basement at home.
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Tournaments like these offer kids the opportunity to 'express themselves freely,' with the support of parents and administration, 'to excel in something they care deeply about, to be able to make friends, gain skills from competition and be exposed to career opportunities,' Hanna said.
