Texas e-Sports Association

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Texas e-Sports Association [edit]

General Information
Industry:	Collegiate Gaming Organization
Founded:	August 2011
Headquarters:	Austin, Texas, USA
Key people:	Tyler Rosen (co-founder) Adam Rosen (co-founder)
Events:	Texas e-Sports Association
Website:	http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/tespa/

[edit] About

Texas e-Sports Association, commonly referred to as TeSPA, is the largest competitive gaming student organization in Texas. Founded in August 2010, TeSPA aims to bring together competitive gamers of all backgrounds to play, improve, and compete. TeSPA was originally started to bring together the StarCraft II players at the University of Texas at Austin to participate in the Collegiate StarLeague. Since then, TeSPA has expanded to include gamers of many genres. Today, Texas e-Sports Association proudly represents the University of Texas at Austin within the Collegiate StarLeague and IvyLoL leagues in StarCraft II and League of Legends respectively.

What TeSPA is most well known for are the StarCraft II tournaments it eagerly hosts. In hosting these tournaments, TeSPA has gained nationwide attention and a reputation for top-notch quality and reliability in event hosting. Texas e-Sports Association's October 2011 Texas Starcraft Showdown, cast by iNcontroL, boasted a $3000 prize pool and attracted over one hundred player participants from 15 universities. From the exceptional stream quality to the fine attention to detail, these tournaments stand out as an stellar example across the state and beyond.

On campus, Texas e-Sports Association regularly hosts large LAN events open to the public. At these LAN events, gamers are invited to come out and play their favorite games, whether PC and console. From Starcraft to Street Fighter, novice and master alike converge to enjoy the simple act of gaming. TeSPA frequently hosts Brawl, League of Legends, and StarCraft competitions at these LAN events.

[edit] StarCraft II Events Organised

Play with the Pros Charity Marathon
In August 2011, Texas e-Sports Association hosted the 'Play with the Pros' charity streaming marathon. The event was unique in that it provided the TeamLiquid.net community an opportunity to chose the charity to which the proceeds were donated (ultimately Doctors without Borders). Throughout the 24-hour event, viewers were given the opportunity to play with well-known players in a myriad of games from monobattles to 'Beat the Pro' 2v1s to micro tournaments. Major contributing teams include compLexity, Quantic, Reign, and Vile.

[edit] Tournaments

Texas StarCraft Showdown #2
In April 2011, TeSPA hosted its second tournament. This tournament featured a 128-person single-elimination bracket with online qualifiers from which 64 advanced to the live tournament. Improvements from the first iteration include an increased prize pool of $1500 and separate playing and spectating rooms. Upon entry, spectators received a booklet of 'Real-Life Achievements' to complete for raffled gaming gear from TteSports and games from NVIDIA. Players from 13 Texas universities attended. The top three finishers at the event were 1) vileHawk 2) coLTriMaster 3) binski.

Texas StarCraft Showdown #1
In November 2010, TeSPA hosted its first large-scale event. The 64-person tournament, hosted on the University of Texas at Austin campus, had a 64-person single elimination bracket with a $700 prize pool. The event was hosted in a combined spectating/playing room. The top three finishers at the event were 1) EGStrifeCro, 2) ZpuX, 3) TriMaster.

[edit] Trivia

Texas e-Sports Associations 2010-2011 organization T-shirt has been widely recognized in the StarCraft II community. Popularized by the protoss legend HuK, the shirt features the 'TeSPA Probie' harvesting minerals on the front and the organization name on the back. These shirts are currently out of print but may make a reappearance in the future.