Did you know that e-Sports is quickly becoming one of the most viewed tournaments in the world? It’s even being recognised by Sports New Zealand. E-Sports got a boost, especially at grass-roots level, during the pandemic.

Between at-home learning and the shutdown of youth sports, a high-tech generation found even more escape and engagement on its smartphones and consoles. 

We have seen this passion and enthusiasm reflected at Shore Junction and recently we have had an active group of members who are extremely interested in e-Sports. Working with these young people we helped them facilitate the final of the Westlake Boys and Girls e-Sports tournament at Shore Junction. Our auditorium space was transformed into gaming central and all the “Franken-PCs” moved down so groups of 10 players could compete at a time. 

Twenty young people competed in 'Valorant' and 'League of Legends', and these games were also streamed online with a live commentary running alongside. We were pleased to have the support of Kingfisher Media, a fledgling video streaming company. Kingfisher Media was started by two young men from Westlake Boys and this company is certainly one to keep an eye on! 

You also may be wondering what a Franken-PC is? Well, sustainablility is huge amongst the Shore Junction members and for a while we have been collecting old PCs (donated by local community members) to refresh and rebuild with the idea of being able to donate them to young people who need their own device. One afternoon three young people came in and wanted to play League of Legends with their friends. However we only had two gaming P.Cs. What this led to is our youth workers and young people working together to make new computers. Thus the storage cupboard was opened, an old PC pulled out and tools collected. From seven old PCs we now have four of these Franken-PCs! 

We are so grateful to those generous community members who have donated their old laptops and PCs to Shore Junction and especially to the incredible Smales family who continuously support us and the tech space upstairs. Shore Junction is only possible thanks to this kind of incredible support. Thanks to this generosity we have begun this journey toward an interschool e-Sport competition and a collection of Franken-PCs to give away to rangatahi who are in need. Check out @shorejunction on Instagram to keep up-to-date with all things PC and e-Sport.