Press Contact: esports@ucla.edu
Los Angeles, California — Today, Esports @UCLA is proud to announce that UCLA administration has officially decided to include collegiate esports under the banner of UCLA Recreation and Club Sports. Esports @UCLA leaders and UCLA administrators have met throughout the past year in order to build a mutual understanding of esports as a competitive sport and how to support the growth of this space on campus. In recognition of UCLA's support, Esports @UCLA will re-brand as UCLA Esports and will represent the university in national and international competitions across several esport titles, including Overwatch and League of Legends. The organization will be headed by new Director of Esports, Cole Schwartz.
"The transition to UCLA Esports is a huge step forward for our athletes, who will benefit from the dependability of a cohesive organization. Moving forward, our athletes will be recognized for their talents, on par with traditional sports, and will continue to represent UCLA's values of sportsmanship in collegiate esports tournaments," said Cole.
"Our athletes will be recognized for their talents, on par with traditional sports, and will continue to represent UCLA's values of sportsmanship in collegiate esports tournaments."
UCLA Esports will manage 9 teams during the 2018-2019 academic year in major esports titles, including League of Legends, Overwatch, Dota 2, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. All titles will have varsity and junior varsity teams, while Heroes of the Storm will only recruit players for a varsity team. UCLA Esports wants to give players of varying skill levels the chance to compete and mentor junior varsity players, so those who improve may be promoted to the varsity roster. We are currently recruiting team managers and coaches for the upcoming year. If you are interested in applying to be a team manager, click
here. If you are interested in coaching or becoming an analyst for a team, click
here.
Athlete recruitment will begin in August. Follow and watch for updates on our social media, and join our mailing list
here so you can be notified when applications go live.
The commitment to the casual gaming community on campus will be the priority of
Bruin Gaming, a new sister organization focused on uniting gamers on campus through social events, interactions with industry professionals, weekly game nights, and larger scale gaming events. You can find out more about BruinGG
here.
UCLA Esports wants to thank you all for the support we have received over the past year, your support is what made this possible. Our dedication to bringing high-quality content, exciting matches and interesting opportunities continues this coming school year, and we invite you to come on this journey with us together.
Sunny Yen
Founder, UCLA Esports & BruinGG
