How to Run Your First School Esports Club

You don’t need to know anything about gaming. You don’t need fancy equipment. And you definitely don’t need to give up your evenings. If you can coordinate a netball team, you can run an esports club, and honestly, this one’s a lot easier.

One of the great secrets of esports in schools is it practically runs itself. Your students already know the games inside and out. They’re desperate for a chance to represent their school doing something they love. All they need is someone to open the door for them.

Find Your Student Champion

Every sports team has a captain, and in esports, that captain is your secret weapon. They know the game. They know the rules. They know the strategies.

Your job in esports isn’t to coach, it’s to enable. Find the student (or students) who light up when you mention esports. They’ll handle the rest. Esports is largely self-organised, so your captain will organise their teammates, communicate with opponents, and make sure results are posted on the night. You just need to trust them and make sure they are all engaged to show up.

Your captain will need to join our Discord server, which is the community hub where we post weekly draws, announcements, and updates. Don’t worry, they’ll already know what Discord is, and our staff monitor it to keep things running smoothly.

Registration Takes Ten Minutes

Sign-ups happen once per season, and you’ve got two simple options.

If your school uses Sporty for rugby, netball, or other sports teams, your schools Sports Coordinator can register your esports teams the same way. Just collect which students want to form which teams and add them through the platform, it pulls student information from KAMAR or your school SMS so you only need their names and game names.

Want an even easier option? Download our ready-made sign-up sheet at this link, send it to your students, let them fill in their details, and forward it back to us before registration closes. Done.

How Students Actually Play

Once you’re registered, most of the hard work is behind you. Students can compete in one of three ways, and you get to choose what works for your school.

From home. This is the easiest option and the most common for schools just starting out. Students connect through a school Discord or their own group chat. The team captain adds the opposing captain in-game, they self-organise their match time, play, and both teams submit results for our referees to verify. You don’t need to be there at all.

From a community venue. Some libraries, community centres, and local clubs now have gaming setups available. Your team can coordinate with a nearby venue and play together in the same room. It’s a great next step once you’re comfortable with the league and want to build more team spirit. If you’re not sure if you have a community venue near you, reach out and ask the NZ Esports team.

From school. This is the ultimate experience, but it does require suitable computers and a teacher willing to stay a bit later to lock up. If your school has a design suite or IT room, those machines might work perfectly with a little help from your IT staff. Some clubs run training from 3:30pm, play their 4:15pm matches together, then do a quick team debrief afterwards. All the camaraderie of a locker room without the school van or standing in the rain.

Your Actual Job

Your main responsibilities are handling registration once per season and making sure your teams show up to their matches. We remove teams who no-show without notice for two games in a row, not to be harsh, but to respect the other schools who took the time to prepare and play. So your role is confirming your teams are ready, passing on any forfeits to our team in advance, and keeping an eye on interest levels throughout the season.

You’re also the school’s point of contact if any conduct issues come up. If a player engages in online bullying, uses inappropriate language, or cheats, we’ll be in touch with you. It’s worth thinking about how you want to handle these situations at your end, whether that’s involving your dean, having a conversation with the student, or whatever fits your school’s approach. Part of what makes school esports valuable is teaching young people that online actions have real-life consequences. Together, we’re helping shape better online citizens.

That’s it. No game knowledge required. No evenings lost. Just a little coordination that gives your students somewhere they truly belong.

Ready to get started? Head over to NZ Secondary School Esports to register your school for the next season.