On Sunday, April 15, the Jungle at IU Indianapolis had a different set up than the normal gymnasium. IU Indianapolis Gamer's Hall, a student-led organization, hosted its inaugural League of Legends High School Invitational (LOL HSI).
Out of 27 teams competing since February through online qualifiers, only 6 remained to compete for the title in the Jungle:
- Noblesville Millers from Noblesville High School in Noblesville, Indiana
- Brown Mackerels from John Adams High School in South Bend, Indiana
- Eastside LoL from Eastside High School in Gainesville, Florida
- OEHS Wolves from Oswego East High School in Oswego, Illinois
- loliPop from Parkway Central in Chesterfield, Missouri
- Mountain7 from Avon High School in Avon, Indiana
The team from Florida, obviously traveling the furthest, had some convincing to do to get itself into the tournament. One of the students wrote a compelling note to his parents trying to convince them that he was ready for the responsibility. After outlining how this event could be reachable for them as well as the pay and travel expenses to the penny, the student wrote:
“This would be a really important event for me, where I could get to meet new people and have a once in a lifetime experience with my friends. We have practiced consistently for this, and it would be a good reflection of our efforts. Most importantly, it’ll be a memorable part of my adolescence.”
Heartbreakingly, the high school team from Florida finished last, but we can only hope that the experience was memorable and worth the travel.
Oswego East High School from Oswego, Illinois won the $10,000 in IU Indianapolis scholarships, and several high school students exclaimed they will be attending IU Indianapolis because of this event and Gamer’s Hall being a student organization on campus for them to connect with.
Matches for this event were hosted live on Twitch.tv, however, you can (and should) view the highlights here: https://www.twitch.tv/esportsiupui/clips
Notable attendees included:
- IU Indianapolis Chancellor Chief of Staff Christine Fitzpatrick and her husband
- Lawrence Walter of SportsUnited
- Steven Comar of Catalyst, which is a consortium of Twitch Stream administrators that facilitate several widely popular twitch streams. Comar has committed to advising Gamer’s Hall on communications for future Gamer’s Hall eSports tournaments at IU Indianapolis.
- Game On from Westfield, Indiana, which is located at Grand Park, donated the gaming stations for the tournament as well as assisted with setup and the IU Indianapolis Welcoming Campus Initiative alongside other sponsors who donated prizes.