Today, the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with the Interstate Scholastic Esports Alliance (ISEA) to help promote, champion, and strengthen the health and well-being of both scholastic and collegiate esports in North America.
The ISEA is a nationwide coalition of educator-run scholastic esports organizations serving students and schools in the K-12 space. The NECC is a collegiate esports conference that works with over 500 colleges and universities throughout North America.
The effort will focus on the two organizations collaborating to provide materials, resources, and both competitive and academic resources to ensure that each organization can continue to grow to support their respective communities and achieve their respective missions.
The NECC is a collegiate esports conference that works with over 500 colleges and universities throughout North America. The NECC works to support an inclusive community within collegiate esports and the conference prides itself on responding to the needs of its schools, directors, coaches, and most importantly - its players.
"The partnership between collegiate and high school esports steadies the turbulent waters that esports has seen the last few years,” stated Jake Utities, ISEA’s Vice President - External.
“With a strong foundation in scholastic, esports at every level can grow. More importantly, this partnership helps to push the academic impact that esports can have on our students; showing them a new pathway to post secondary and building new opportunities for their future."
“We’re extremely proud to announce this partnership with the ISEA today,” said NECC Commissioner / CEO Jacob VanRyn.
“We’re very excited to be working with the ISEA and each of their state organizations to help promote the well-being of the scholastic esports community. We see this partnership as an important step forward in helping connect the K-12 space with the colleges and universities we are extremely fortunate to be working with in the NECC.”
As a direct result of this new partnership, the NECC is working with the Texas Scholastic Esports Federation (TexSEF), one of the state associations within the ISEA family, to host a LAN event this Saturday, November 15th at The Keith Bell Opportunity Central in Forney, Texas.
The Undisputed: Scouting Grounds at the OC will feature a number of local high school teams competing against each other and a recruitment aspect as well as educational opportunities for those in attendance. The event is free and open to the public.
"This partnership highlights one of the best relationships I have had since starting my position as the esports program director here at Concordia University, St. Paul in 2021,” said Tyler Pauly.
“The connections I have made with our state organization in Minnesota have been invaluable to our program as we have continued to grow year after year. I'm thrilled to continue to help support this effort and connect our NECC members with their state organizations as we continue to bridge the gap in scholastic Esports."
Concordia St Paul is a sponsor of the Minnesota high school esports organization (MNVL) and engages in many activities with them. For example, they appear on all MNVL streams, attend both their state tournament and coach development clinics, and host high school teams for things like field trips and yearly rivalry matches at their esports lab.
For more information on the partnership, please contact Danielle Johnson at danielle@texsef.org or Jacob VanRyn at jacob@neccathletics.com
ABOUT THE ISEA
The ISEA is a nationwide coalition of educator-run scholastic esports organizations serving students and schools in the K-12 space. ISEA organizations operate in 25 states and serve over 80,000 students annually.
Together, with partners and publishers that share our values and commitment to protect and elevate scholastic esports, our mission is to empower ALL students to use esports as a platform to grow socially, emotionally, and academically.
The ISEA is the unified voice of K-12 scholastic esports in pursuing advocacy initiatives, articulating best practices, optimizing resources, connecting stakeholders, and identifying opportunities for student enrichment in educational spaces.
For more information about the ISEA, visit their website at https://www.iseaesports.org/
ABOUT THE NECC
The NECC fosters innovative competition experiences, provides quality broadcasting services, and works to support an inclusive community within collegiate esports. The NECC was started to provide the collegiate gaming community with the respect it warranted and deserved. The conference prides itself on responding to the needs of its schools, directors, coaches, and most importantly - its players.
With more than 500 colleges and universities currently competing, the NECC strives to be a positive home for the collegiate gaming community.
For more information about the NECC, their schools, games, and community, visit their website at necc.gg/
