A GAMES development student is preparing to captain her college team at the British championships for one of the world's fastest growing sports.

Charlie Donovan, 20, from Llandudno, has been appointed captain of one of the six Esports’ teams that Coleg Llandrillo is fielding in the British Esports Student Championships this academic year. She is studying on the Level 3 Games Development course at the Rhos-on-Sea campus.

Charlie not only captains Hydras, which consists of both male and female student gamers, but she also trains her team members three times a week, while outside of her college commitments she is part of a female-only group who are learning how to be Esports presenters.

Her team will be playing Valorant - a popular, character-based multiplayer shooter from Riot Games - against students from across the length and breadth of the UK. The team’s first match of the new season is taking place this week.

Earlier this year to meet huge demand, Coleg Llandrillo announced that it would also be offering an A-level-equivalent qualification in esports. Learners are taught within the brand new £120,000, state-of-the-art Virtual Reality Suite at the college group’s Rhos-on-Sea campus.

The British Esports Student Championships is a series of competitive video gaming tournaments for school and college students aged 12+ across the UK. The Championships is an extracurricular, team-based activity that engages a wide demographic of young people, whilst providing an avenue to motivate and inspire students.

British Esports has recently confirmed that the grand finals of the Championships will once again be held in collaboration with the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies – Nottingham Trent University’s new esports complex. The live event will take place on the 18th and 19th June 2022.

Coleg Llandrillo’s Games Development department has had an unbelievable few years, after securing partnerships with some of the world’s most successful electronics and gaming brands.

It has been registered as both Xbox and Nintendo developers, which is a possible first for any college or university in the UK! Further to this, it is now part of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s global academic programme - PlayStation First.

BAFTA-winning Coleg Llandrillo games development tutor Rob Griffiths, who was presented with this year’s prestigious Further Education Academic Award for his initiatives in the world of games development and computing, was recently appointed as a non-executive director for Esports Wales, the national body for esports in Wales.

He said: “It's great to see so many students getting interested in esports, joining teams to help represent their college on a national level. It's also very positive to see so many females taking part and showing that there are no gender barriers to playing games competitively.”

Esports is part of a multi-billion pound worldwide industry with no physical barriers, and this innovative qualification will afford students with real career prospects in the burgeoning UK market, as well as gaining access to global industries in the US, Asia and Europe. As a new co-owner of an esports business, even David Beckham is getting in on the act.