High School Starleague COO talks about the $20,000 in scholarships, high school eSports, and how to get involved

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Alan LaFleur | April 25th

The High School Starleague is an organization whose growth is unimaginable for most organizations in eSports. In just three seasons, they have amassed over 700 teams across three eSports: League of Legends, Dota 2, and Starcraft 2. Their Dota 2 league is in its first season and has around 80 teams. This week they announced a huge sponsorship deal with Newegg, Twitch, and MSI to bring $20,000 in scholarship money to the league. I was able to have a chat with the COO of HSL, Jesse Wang, about the league, the scholarships, and how to get involved.

First off, introduce yourself, your background, and tell us about High School Starleague

Jesse Wang: Hello, I'm Jesse Wang. I'm a first year informatics major at UCI, president of DOTA2@UCI (School Club), and COO/Director of Community of HSL. I led the two-time championship HSL SC2 team of Torrey Pines.

In regards to what I do for the league, up til 2013 where we expanded to league/dota, I did a lot of the match and player administration, as well as working with Tomber, now CEO, on sponsorships and event organizing. Today, alongside overseeing all HSL operations, I specialize in working to build high school eSports clubs and communities for those who are not involved in HSL.

High School Starleague is the equivalent of the sports, such as football, basketball, and baseball leagues, we see for High School students. We currently operate on NA, and have a small EU division that is aimed to expand heavily next year.

I swear I've heard of Torrey Pines, what state is that?

Jesse Wang: San Diego, California, Tony Hawk went there!

Jesse with his Torrey Pines team during Season 2. From left to right: Alex Deng, Jesse Wang, Justin Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½JDÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½ Wang, and Ryan Kemper.

Nice, so you guys had a pretty awesome announcement the other day. Please, tell us a bit about that.

Jesse Wang: Oh yeah, I hope almost every high school gamer's dream can come true! So basically, HSL has been growing exponentially since our beginning in late 2010.

After introducing League of Legends and Dota2, our player-base grew extremely quickly to approximately 750 teams. On top of a very successful SC2 Season 2 finals where Torrey Pines won in 2013 and a Winter championship in 2014 where Cerritos High School won and had a Riot video made about them, the increases in both player-base and viewership definitely appealed to sponsors. We now have scholarship money coming in from Twitch, Newegg, and MSI and they are not simply giving prize money. These are scholarships that shed a new light on how the world will think about gaming. We are hoping that these scholarships will help legitimize eSports in the eyes of people who don't currently know or participate in eSports.

For this year, we are awarding scholarships to teams that place top 3. Scholarships are awarded to each individual through the team. We do make sure each individual signs an academic contract, just like a traditional athletic scholarship.

Sounds like a great opportunity for high school players, so tell us what a typical season looks like for a high school team.

Jesse Wang: So we have a "two-round" system, aka a fall and a spring season. Teams are organized in divisions by time zone of about 24 teams each. We have about 16 divisions. For fall, the top 2 divisions qualify for playoffs as well as the winter championship bracket. Actually, here is a chart that can explain it pretty well:

For SC2 and DOTA2, they are smaller so they do not have a winter championship, and their division sizes are smaller.

Can you talk about your experience in the league, what it meant to you, and what it could mean to players that aren't involved yet?

Jesse Wang: Of course! I got involved with HSL a back in 2011 in the beginning of our Season 0, where we were still called HSSTL (High School StarCraft Team league). Not only did I want to help out, I also led a team. We didn't really think we were going to win against some GM's in the tournament like Pokebunny, but a mix of luck, a lot of hard practice, and good team effort led to a Season 0 championship, a Season 1 3rd place, and Season 2 championship.

So besides the fact that I am extremely passionate about eSports and making it as legitimate as traditional sports, this league means a lot to me as it was my most memorable High School experience and achievement.

I think high school eSports paves the way for the future of eSports. When we look at a lot of normal athletics, we see parents push their children to succeed in athletics, like Troy in High School Musical (okay i know really cringe but whatever), in order to be able to get into a good college and a scholarship.

Would you say the experience defined your high school years?

Jesse Wang: Yes it definitely was the highlight of my high school years. Now that we are creating this infrastructure at the high school level for eSports, we can hopefully move from the negative stigma gaming has, and gain acceptance among parents.

I think that it also helps that the biggest stars of educational eSports are people like Suppy, who goes to UC Berkeley and has a 4.0 GPA; the parent dream.

So how would a school go about starting a program?

Jesse Wang: So firstly, any student can create a High School team, as
long as they can find enough players at their school. Online registration is extremely easy! Aside from teams, we also encourage schools to create eSports-based clubs. Clubs are a great way to bring together the community at a High School. We currently have lots of materials for students to learn how to start clubs. We also offer a club program for students that want to take their clubs and get them school approved. I have worked with schools across the nation in assisting their eSports programs to include utilizing school computer labs for team practices, giving players athletic credits, and using school resources to host successful events such as charity and competitive tournaments, viewing parties and LAN's.

HSL Showmatch - Yaphetz Gaming vs Fun Sway

What would you say to a member of the community that is thinking about starting up a team but is hesitant?

Jesse Wang: Just do it. - Nike

But in all seriousness, if you want to do it and you can make the commitment, go for it! Now is better then ever to compete, and with scholarships on the line, it is now way easier to convince parents and teachers that playing for a High School eSports team is not only fun, but worthwhile.

Also, our match scheduling is extremely flexible. Coordinators in HSL always reschedule matches to fit both team's schedule. Many of our players can commit to HSL on top of good
academics and extracurriculars.

Is there anything else you would like to say to the MOBAFire and League of Legends communities?

Jesse Wang: Thank you guys so much! DOTAFire builds help me stay in the meta, so thank you for that! I love Dota 2, especially...well I've played since 2007 and fell in love with almost all the heroes with the exception of Earth Spirit. He's too hard to master. Big shoutouts to my club, DOTA2@UCI!

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who would i contact for more information?

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Go to http://dota2.hsstarleague.com where the information would be availible.

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