The North America Scholastic Esports Federation has announced a partnership with the Arizona Coyotes that will bring NASEF’s curriculum and gaming offerings to students through the National Hockey League team’s new Coyotes Gaming initiative.
As students continue to show interest in STEM fields, leveraging potential connections that can made through organizations such as NASEF bring with it opportunities to seek out the many potential pathways that exist through esports, such as shoutcasting, design, marketing, management and entrepreneurship.
The games and tournaments are only part of the equation. NASEF’s Beyond the Game challenges along with its team-based club concept helps promote collaboration and foster learning experiences. All of the work NASEF does is free to student gamers.
“Research demonstrates the effectiveness of sports as a tool for meaningful STEM and social-emotional learning,” said Gerald Solomon, founder and executive director of NASEF. “We’re thrilled to have the Arizona Coyotes in the NASEF family, where educators will be able to learn best practices from other community networks with experience implementing scholastic esports programs. Of course, the students will be thrilled to take part in huge tournaments in popular games. We’re excited to support the Arizona Coyotes and see the growth across Arizona in the coming years.”
Aside from those pathways, NASEF offers a variety of opportunities for for middle and high school students to put their gaming skills to use in tournaments, including Overwatch, Madden, Rocket League, Valorant and Minecraft.
It also offers one that speaks to a hockey-loving fan base – NHL21. NASEF has hosted tournaments in the past along with its other partners: the Vegas Golden Knights, Anaheim Ducks and the Florida Panthers. Bringing the Coyotes on board spreads the knowledge and fun to yet another area.
“The Arizona Coyotes are excited to partner with the North America Scholastic Esports Federation to engage with the rapidly expanding esports community,” said Coyotes Strategic Advisor Alex Meruelo, Jr. “The Coyotes will proudly dedicate resources through our school program to help develop esports opportunities and promote the growth of gaming and education in the state of Arizona. We look forward to collaborating with NASEF on this great initiative.”
