FLORENCE – In a first-of-its-kind event, the University of North Alabama will have the Mane Event, an eSports tournament that will include several University departments as well as hundreds of high school students from more than a dozen high schools from across North Alabama.
The event is set for Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18 and 19 in the Communications Building on the UNA campus.
“We are tremendously excited about having local high school students on campus playing in a UNA hosted eSports event,” said Mark Linder, a lecturer in Sport and Recreation Management and among those organizing the Mane Event. “Since the Atari 2600, I think video games have always been popular. However, with the recent boom in technology and worldwide connectivity, gaming has gained both participants and spectators from a sector of society to whom traditional sports do no appeal.”
The Mane Event is, foremost, a way to showcase some of the region’s best and brightest high school students to UNA and all it has to offer academically as well as programmatically, Linder said.
“Secondly, the UNA eSports program hopes to assist the local high schools in establishing and supporting their own eSports clubs and reaping the benefits of organized gaming at the high school level,” he said.
Organized and executed by UNA students, Linder said the Mane Event will allow high school students “to witness the quality character and work ethic of our current students throughout the event.”
Further, the students will have an opportunity to watch the members of the UNA eSports team, or Rocket League, compete in a collegiate competition.
Media Release/ University Media & Public Relations
UNA
