A champion and a scholar: collegiate League of Legends across NA

The North American Collegiate Championship (NACC) is back. Last year, 540 teams from over 300 universities across North America and Canada faced off on the Rift for a chance to become the North American Collegiate Champion. Classes may have barely begun, but this year's first NACC qualifiers are less than a month away. To find out what they've got in store for the NACC this year, we checked in with three of the top competing schools in North America: the University of British Columbia, one of last year's semifinalists, UCLA, one of the best teams in SoCal, and Robert Morris University, the first school in the country to offer athletic scholarships for promising young Summoners.

Legacy of Excellence: University of British Columbia

• Top: Wesley "Daijurjur" Lee, Senior, Computer Science
• Jungle: Jason "XDG Proof" Dong, Sophomore, Statistics
• Mid: Bob "BobqinXD" Qin, Freshman, Forestry
• ADC: Brian "TehBChoi" Choi, Senior, Honours Biotechnology
• Support: Jeremy "Remie" Koberstein, Senior, Statistics

Our first stop on this intercollegiate tour takes us to Vancouver, British Columbia, home of the University of British Columbia eSports Association. This organization is one of the most successful esports clubs in the world. Over six hundred members pay to be included every year. The Association also features an online network of nearly 4,000 gamers across tons of different titles. Not to mention they hold CSL and IvyLoL titles and have accumulated over $22,000 in winnings. The UBC’s veteran League team reached the NACC semi-finals last year, and we'll doubtless hear their names again and again throughout the season. What makes their League team so good? We asked Carman “Chiyeuk” Lam, the team's co-founder and alumnus. “I think our main team is the first collegiate League of Legends team to have a dedicated team of support staff,” she explained. Unlike most teams across the country, UBC's League team has sister teams to practice with. Every September they hold tryouts for their sister teams, and they use those tryouts to scout for substitutes for the main team as well. Originally a player on one of UBC's teams, Lam stepped down from playing to become the main team's full-time analyst and manager. Once the NACC began, they recruited two more analysts, who receive a portion of the winnings. The staff organize scrims with LCS teams like LMQ and Team 8, and each member is required to play one scrim and ten solo queue games per day. Playing League at UBC is a commitment: one that's proven to pay off time and again. Last year, their success led them to the LCS stage for the NACC grand finals event. Though they lost to Sergio's Dream from San Jose State University, the team wasn't fazed by the defeat. “Losing was definitely not enjoyable, but the team survived and learned a lot from the LAN experience,” Lam says, “No one doubted their future participation in collegiate competitions. Rather, the team eagerly look forward to winning the next NACC.” A few months after that loss, the squad flew down to Austin, Texas for the IvyLoL grand finals at Lone Star Clash 3. They took home the gold. Most of that squad is back again this year, and it's pretty safe to say we'll be seeing some high level play from them this year.

Calling Champions: University of California, Los Angeles

• Top: Robin “DarkBlight” Choi, Junior, Economics
• Jungle: Arnav “iucid” Chaudary, Biomedical Engineering
• Mid: Mike “Environmental” Zhuang, Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution
• ADC: Rafa “Rakin” Knittel
• Support: William “stuntopolis” Chen, Computer Science

The West Coast has long been the most competitive League of Legends region in North America, and Southern California has always been at the center. With schools like UC Irvine, UC San Jose, UC San Diego, and USC at the forefront of college esports for years, it's easy to see why. Standing out in front of these heavyweights is no easy task, but UCLA 's squad, better known as “Call Gaming,” have managed to do exactly that. Though they were ultimately defeated before reaching the NACC stage, they've only been trending up since then and continued to play on undaunted. Going into this year's qualifiers, UCLA just might be the team to beat from Southern California. UCLA's eSports club is a place for all kinds of gamers, with 50-80 members meeting up every week to hang out, discuss esports, and play games in-house. Club president Easton Morris and the UCLA eSports executive board organize tournaments and social events all throughout the year. The events are intended to draw players from all around the area. When it comes to competing in tournaments, Morris says they work by, “finding the most dedicated members who want to participate and help them grow as a team to succeed in national competition.” They're currently planning the best strategy for setting their roster in stone, but it would be hard to go wrong with their current team: a squad of Challenger players currently sitting at the top of the ladder. This year, Morris is confident in the team's ability. “With SoCal being so competitive I wouldn’t overstep in assuming our dominance,” he cautions, “but I would place us in the Top 3 for sure. Untraditionally, USC is not our biggest rival and [it] might actually be UC San Diego or UC Irvine in the SoCal area.” If they can perform in qualifiers the way they perform on the ladder, who could argue?

Varsity Summoners: Robert Morris University

Final roster to be determined.

• Kenneth Ling
• Derek “Zig” Shao
• Zing “Tails” Jie

There may have been League of Legends players at hundreds of colleges all over the world, but none of them were official varsity athletes part of the school's athletic department or awarded scholarships on the basis of their skill on the Rift until Robert Morris University changed everything. This year, RMU in Illinois became the first American college to offer tuition scholarships for League of Legends prowess. League is now an officially sanctioned part of the RMU athletic department. The school's announcement took the world by storm according to RMU’s director of esports, Kurt Melcher. He reports that the school received 100 applications and over 4,000 e-mails about the program. In the end, they awarded 35 students from all of the world scholarships, and they have just begun their fall quarter. The final League of Legends team roster has yet to be determined, but the school is more than prepared to provide these athletes everything they need. “We have built on campus the iBUYPOWER eSports Arena,” Melcher replied when asked about the school's practice accommodations, “It is a high end esports specific use facility which would measure up to some of the best gaming lounges in the country. We were very specific to make sure that the environment the players would be competing in would mirror – albeit at a smaller scale - the feel of a LCS setting.” The players have set schedules for practicing daily, in addition to attending their schoolwork. “If they have time between classes they are welcome to come in and get some solo queue,” explains Melcher. “The players really love the space as it is esports specific - we don't use it as a computer lab or classroom - it is esports only.” Though RMU is a newcomer to the space, it's clear they're going all-in to hang with the best. And when the best include teams like UBC and UCLA, that's not easy. But with the full backing of an entire university behind them, everyone's eyes will be watching Robert Morris University's team. These players are living any high school gamer's dream. If this program is successful, who knows? Other schools just might follow suit.

Let the Games Begin

These are only a few of the teams that will be smashing into each other time and again throughout the upcoming year of NACC action. Hundreds of other schools all across North America have stories just as interesting, players just as passionate, and a drive to win just as strong. And your team could be among them. All three of these teams will be making appearances in the upcoming qualifiers, which are currently open for registration until October 16. Head over to the NACC Frequently Asked Questions page for more information. There's two more qualifiers taking place next semester, so if you need some time to get your squad together, don't fret. Collegiate esports has never been bigger than it is today. We can't wait for the qualifiers to begin, and we'll be keeping you updated here at lolesports as the action rages on. Good luck, and we'll see you on the Rift.

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