Esports team soar to second place in British Rocket League standings
York College’s Esports team are soaring high in the national Rocket League standings after an excellent first half of the 2023/24 season.
The side of Jacob Sellars, Alex Donoghue (pictured above left) and Giuseppe Gagliano-Fawcett (pictured above right) sit second in the British Esports Student Champs table, having won five and lost just one of their six fixtures.
That return means the trio’s tally of 16 points places them just two behind the undefeated leaders.
Rocket League is a sport-based video game, developed by Psyonix and is described as “football with cars”.
It features a competitive game mode based on teamwork and outmanoeuvring opponents to score goals in their opponents’ net.
The popularity of Esports has never been higher as witnessed by the recent frenzied media attention surrounding the expected 2025 release of Grand Theft Auto 6.
Gaming is also now the highest-grossing sector in the entertainment industry and is worth more than the music and film sectors combined.
York College runs an Esports Diploma Level 2 course and an Extended Diploma Level 3 course, overseen by tutor Tyler Wilson, with Head of Sport, Public Services and Hair and Beauty Karen Goodman saying: "The value of the gaming industry has doubled since 2007 - overtaking all other forms of media and now represents the majority of money spent in the UK on entertainment.
“The achievement of Tyler and the students comes at a time when more people recognise Esports as an established, and not merely emerging, industry. It's great to see our students competing at the highest possible levels.”
York College’s Valorant League team of Tyler Robb, Kai Harrison Matthews, Jake Harrison-Standish, Vellon Fernandes, Ching Yip and Jayden Nelson also sit 23rd in the national standings, having won three and lost three of their six fixtures competing in the character-based, 5v5 tactical shooter played on the global stage and developed by Riot Games.
The Overwatch 2 Women in Esports team, meanwhile, face Exeter College this Wednesday in the Losers Finals.
Victory would see the team of Lily Howes, Amber Bennett, Yigit Sensoy, Kenzie Booth and Joshua Middleton-Green qualify for the Grand Finals, where they would take on Belfast Metropolitan College to contest the Winter Champions’ title.
Overwatch 2 is a first-person shooter game developed by Blizzard Entertainment.
For more information on our Esports Level 2 course click here
For more information on the Level 3 course click here
