More than just a football game

Update

Knysna youngster Blake Govender has been selected to represent the Protea Esports Team at the IESF's 11th World Championships to be held from 11 to 15 December in Seoul, South Korea.

Blake will be participating in the eFootball title of PES 2020, the second-bestselling football video-game franchise of all time, behind the Fifa franchise, having ranked fourth on the Mind Sports SA's (MSSA) Ladder, the organisation's official rankings for esports players in SA.

Blake has been playing esports competitively for just over a year, after having started around the time he was five or six years old.

'I wanted in, too'
Blake, now 17, was born and raised in Knysna and took up video games when he first saw family members playing Fifa on a PlayStation 2. "I was intrigued after watching my uncles and cousin play Fifa against each other, and the excitement on their faces and determination to beat one another was something I wanted to do too," Blake says.

Furthermore, having grown up as an avid football fan and staunch Manchester United supporter, the chance to play a game as his football idols was what hooked him to the game. Blake would end up playing a fair amount of Fifa, PES, and other video games over the years, developing his skills both through hours of practice and through the esports programme at Oakhill College, where he is enrolled in Grade 11.

"The esports programme at Oakhill has definitely allowed me to develop as a player, and the continuous efforts from our teacher and team principal, Mrs [Diana] Barnard, has allowed us to be better," Blake says. He plays Fifa competitively under the Big11086 gamer tag as part of Oakhill's Oaks_eSports club, in the MSSA's nationwide schools league.

Oakhill head of school Jannie de Villiers says the school is "immensely proud of Blake" who is a "much-respected member" of the school. "Oakhill and South Africa could not wish for a better ambassador in the international esports arena," De Villiers adds.

Ranked 4th in SA
In his first ranking as a competitive eFootballer in January this year after games played in the MSSA league, Blake was ranked fourth in South Africa on the Fifa 19 High School Ladder, and 22nd on the Fifa 19 Senior Ladder, which incorporates university and other senior players. Blake has not yet been ranked for PES – only for Fifa – but his exploits as an eFootballer throughout the year are the reason he has been selected to play for the Protea esports team.

For Blake, his joy in competitive esports extends past the game itself. "People don't always see it but without them knowing, you gain knowledge about different traditions, cultures and ultimately learn so much from these random people around the world. All because of a video game," he says.

"It's really cool to think that a competitive video game extends way beyond its actual purpose."

He doesn't necessarily have any professional ambitions for esports at this point, but instead his "ultimate goal is to just have fun while it lasts" and to take everything in his stride.

Blake is still coming to terms with his national selection. "I never thought I would be where I currently am and I'm beyond grateful for it. To represent your country in any sort of way is a true honour and a dream come true."

Blake Govender will be representing South Africa in the eFootball title of PES 2020.