Pratt, Kan. - The Pratt Community College Esports team will begin their season with the brand-new National Junior College Athletic Association Esports (NJCAAE) qualifying matches. The NJCAAE now requires every team participating in division one and division two competitions to participate in a certain number of qualifying matches to prevent forfeits and other issues arising during the regular season. The regular season will begin the week of September 22.  

“I like the concept of playing qualifying matches as it gives us an opportunity to compete against similar opponents in a no pressure formate,” said head esports coach Charles Keefer. “While weekly scrims are beneficial it is not always against collegiate opponents, or teams with similar goals as ours. This four week period gives us a chance to try new things and clean up all game plans before the regular season.”  

The Beavers will field a team in six game titles including Call of Duty, League of Legends, Madden, Overwatch 2, Rocket League, and Valorant with 31 total student athletes competing in the NJCAAE. Fans of the Beaver esports program can tune in four nights a week with League of Legends taking place on Monday nights, Rocket League and Call of Duty on Tuesday nights, Madden, and Overwatch 2 on Wednesday nights with Valorant taking place on Thursday nights.  

“Over the past year our program has grown from 18 students to 31 so many of our returning players are getting used to having more competition for the starting lineup in each game title,” said coach Keefer. “With the growth we can have competition in all our rosters with the best players receiving playing time. This will help our student athletes grow as players, continue to work hard, and never be content or comfortable with their spot on the roster.”  

Like last season, the Beavers will also compete in the Unified Collegiate League (UCL) starting in mid-September. Matches will be streamed live on twitch.tv/pccesports