The future of the St. Clair Saints Varsity Esports team is bright, with athletes boasting a big win percentage and a high GPA while pushing their recruiting, marketing, and broadcasts to new heights.
Last spring St. Clair College's Esports Director Shaun Byrne was able to hire two new staff members, one of which was assistant Esports Director Chris Funston, who quickly went to work and recruited 32 first-year recruits, including seven from outside Ontario to compete for the Saints.
"For the first four years, we were a passive recruiting program. We weren't actively going out and seeking recruits for our team. That changed once Chris came on board," said Byrne. "He went out and found us players from across Canada to travel and move to Windsor and compete for our teams."
The talent of this new crop of gamers was proven during competition this fall, as the Saints compiled a win-loss record of 302-95, while making 16 finals appearances and winning 2 National Championships. With an overall program GPA average of 3.16, Byrne said this was also the best academic year season since the Varsity Esports program was founded in 2017.
"There was a new change of mentality with this new crop of recruits we brought in. They are more passionate and more focused on competing," said Byrne. "We have athletes who are passionate about these games and who want to succeed in these games, and they know if they want to continue to play on this team, they need to uphold their GPA."
The process of building a $23 million-dollar state-of-the-art facility at St. Clair College is also nearing completion, making it the largest publicly accessible facility of its kind. At over 15,000 square feet, Byrne believes this facility will set the bar for varsity esports in North America and further cement St. Clair as a destination college for aspiring students, gamers and esports enthusiasts.
"Getting into that new facility will give our program the spotlight it has never had before," said Byrne. "Now with the facility, we will be front and center in the College. We will have the ability to invite people to watch games in person, which has never been something we could do before. We will have a lot more exposure with the rest of the campus community so they will understand what we are and experience it for themselves."
In terms of competition, Byrne said he is excited about the upcoming season for all seven Saints varsity esports teams and believes a few specific teams have the raw skill to climb into a Top 10 ranking in North America. If the Saints can play at a top-tier level, they also have a chance to push for professional contracts.
"We have two teams which are very strong in Rocket League and Call of Duty," said Byrne. "In the summer, Rocket League finished top four in North America. This fall they took a bit of a dip, but they can make some upsets and finish among the top eight-level in North America, which would be a very strong accomplishment."
Byrne said St. Clair has "tremendously talented students on campus who have worked with our content teams to push our marketing and broadcasts to new heights." The Fall numbers are as follows:
- Total Views Across Twitch = 2,053,843
- Total Hours Watched = 216,324
- Peak Viewership = 24,976
- Total Social Media Impressions = 2.63 million
- Total Twitter Engagements = 101,875
Byrne, who was named National Esports Director of the Year in 2020, is also a member of the faculty for the two-year Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship program at the College, which is one of the few programs in the world which trains students for careers in the esports industry.
For more information about the two-year Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship program, click on this link: Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship | St. Clair College (stclaircollege.ca)
- Brett Hedges