AoC Sport and British Esports Association announce NBA2K Lockdown Championships

Following the popularity of the AoC Sport FIFA lockdown tournament, we are now launching a unique opportunity for college and academy teams to face-off in a virtual basketball competition. The NBA2K Lockdown Championships will be run in partnership with the British Esports Association for teams on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (depending on demand) to compete nationally throughout June and July. Players from colleges and academy teams playing in our basketball leagues during 2019/20 will be able to enter teams of three students free of charge. AoC Sport sees this competition as an ideal activity for students to get involved in with many students finishing off their summer term studies from home, as well as potentially self-isolating, volunteering and wanting to socialise. Dean Hardman, AoC’s Director of Sport and Student Experience, said: “We are really pleased that this competitive esports opportunity can be offered to our colleges and teams across the country. “Esports has become increasingly popular in colleges over the past two years as part of our valued partnership with the British Esports Association. This NBA2K lockdown tournament presents a further opportunity for even more colleges and students to get involved, playing a well-known video game.”

Format and dates

Rounds will take place every week from Wednesday 10 June 2020 (2020), with teams being drawn nationally to find our champion players. Teams of three will play in 1 v 1 matches against opposing teams, totalling nine matches per team per round.

Colleges are encouraged to appoint a student as captain to take charge of their team, arrange match times with other teams and enter their scores online. Colleges have until Friday 29 May 2020 to register their Expression of Interest into this tournament, before player registrations open.

Express your interest HERE

Personal development

At a time when students are not able to develop skills through physical sport, esports competitions can have a vital role in improving similar aspects such as teamwork, communication and sportsmanship. British Esports chair Andy Payne OBE commented: “We’re delighted to team up with AoC Sport on another initiative, following our work with them on the FIFA tournament for colleges and we’re sure this will be another success.” There are plenty of resources and support available from British Esports to enable college tutors to understand the new NBA2K tournament, whether they are familiar with esports or not, such as how to run internal competitions to find their top three players and more. The tournament will be run under a dedicated code of conduct to ensure the values of fair play and respect are adhered to throughout.