Organised by British Esports Association Scotland Representative, Mark McCready, and CDN’s Digital and Innovation Lead, Kenji Lamb, the Scottish College Cup took take place on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 November. Students from eight Scottish colleges battled it out for the title of best student Rocket League team in Scotland.
The WCS team (self-titled WCSTBC) consisted of HNC Games Students Will Hamilton (38) from Dumbarton and Silviu Soare (33) from Paisley alongside NC Games student Iain Martin (39) from Kilbirnie and HNC Computing Technical Support with Cyber Security Student Greig Will (19) from Linwood.
Placed in Group A along with Ayrshire College, Glasgow Clyde College and Inverness College, WCS had some tough competition in the Team Stage, winning only their second match against Ayrshire College. And although they had a tough first day, our WCS team showed great promise for the future. This was definitely a learning experience with WCS aiming to come back better and stronger next year and the team still had fun as student Iain Martin points out – “It’s all about the fun and if you are not having fun then what's the point!”
Iain Shand; Computing Curriculum & Quality Leader commented:
“The Esports competition has been fantastic with students from different class groups (who due to the pandemic have never even met) bonding through the preparation for this competition and so enhancing their team working and communication skills. The team have worked really hard for each other.”
Dr Amanda Ford, Lecturer in Creative and Digital Industries said:
As a lecturer I'm really proud of the way these students have got together as a team, bearing in mind they've never met each other face to face, and it’s good to have something to take their minds off the day to day work as well. It was great to watch the team play and I appreciate the effort they put into practising for the event.
The WCS team can be proud of their achievements with the final match being watched by over 1600 people online on Saturday with Gamer and Commentator Tofu Elliot saying, “The WCS team were strong and adaptable in their first match against inverness and their win against Ayrshire. Playing in front of 1000 people is daunting and the team showed good spirit.”
Let’s find out a bit more about the Team…
Ian Martin, studying NC Computer Games Development, found that despite having only a short time to practice for the competition and having never met his teammates in person that a shared sense of humour and deciding not to take things too seriously meant that they overcame this challenge. With regards to his course he has found even in remote learning that he has had good interaction with his lecturers and is looking forward to progressing to the HNC and HND courses.
Silviu Soare, studying HNC Games Development, loved being given the opportunity to represent the College and although facing what he felt was a much higher level of competition he still had fun. Silviu is very much looking forward to participating next year especially with a bit more time to practice. It has been a long-time dream of his to study game development and he has ambitions to go onto the HND course and a career in game development. His advice if thinking about a career in game development is not to wait but to follow your dream and go for it.
Will Hamilton, studying HNC Game Development, found the competition fun and the biggest challenge was forming a team when they had never met especially with regards to training and getting in the practice. He will certainly consider competing again next year but potentially will just cheer on his colleagues if not! His aim is to progress onto the HND course and university and hopes in the future to create some awesome games. His advice to anyone studying game development would be to do your work in plenty of time as this allows you to fix any mistakes.
Greig Will, studying HNC Technical Support with Cyber Security, enjoyed the competition and especially getting to know other students during these difficult times. He will definitely try out for the team again next year. With regards to his course he finds the lecturers great at getting the class involved and would advise any potential students to throw themselves into it even if you are inexperienced.
So there you have it - some names to watch out for next year- when hopefully WCS will improve even further on a very promising start in the Esports arena.
If you are thinking of a career in Games Development and an opportunity to join the WCS video Gaming Team then applications open in January for August 2021.
APPLICATIONS FOR AUGUST 2021 OPEN IN JANUARY