Christian Pineda plays a lot of video games, but he’s best at “Minecraft.” Hunched over a laptop in the front row of a half-full movie theater last month, the 13-year-old eagerly showed off why.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Christian Pineda plays a lot of video games, but he’s best at “Minecraft.” Hunched over a laptop in the front row of a half-full movie theater last month, the 13-year-old eagerly showed off why.
“I basically know the controls like the back of my hand,” he said before turning his focus back to a tight match against a rival team from Boston. Christian claims to be shy at school, but here, he’s a vocal leader on a New York team of nearly 20 esports competitors, some as young as 6 years old. With a spot in the league finals on the line, Christian tapped away at his keyboard and excitedly discussed tactics with teammates.
The group was strategizing over pickaxes and archers, not pitchers and catchers, but the focus on teamwork and communication could have come straight from the bench at a youth baseball game.
At Super League Gaming events like this, that’s the goal.
“Like Little League for esports,” said Super League CEO Ann Hand.
Super League is trying to bring structure to an industry devoid of it at the youth level. The organization was founded in 2015 and runs national leagues for three esports games: “Minecraft” for players in elementary and middle school, and “League of Legends” and “Clash Royale” for older players. Kids are often introduced to competitive video games via “Minecraft” before graduating to “League of Legends,” giving them a place to train and play throughout their teenage years and beyond — the “League of Legends” competitions don’t have an age limit. Super League Gaming has tens of thousands of players, although not all attend every live event, and its “Minecraft” championship has been turned into a reality TV show on Nickelodeon.
The hope is that Super League can close a major gap in the esports ecosystem for young gamers, particularly in the U.
