December 2018 to May 2019. At a time when the Fédération québécoise de sports électroniques (FQSE) had several urgent issues to deal with, I accepted a six-month mandate to be the interim general manager. Among the important issues I had to deal with was that of the Cyber Espoirs League.

In a nutshell, the Ligue Cyber Espoirs (LCE) was initially a facet of the Programme Cyber Espoirs. The objectives of this program, theorized by Patrick Pigeon, were to enable young adults to progress towards a professional career in e-sports by supporting them financially (scholarships) and academically (training programs), to support student associations (structurally and financially), and to introduce e-sports to the general public. It included a promotional tour of schools, support for student associations, the Championnat des Cybers Espoirs, support for student associations, e-sport programs and workshops, and finally the Ligue des Cyber Espoirs. Due to lack of funding, only the LCE took place.

As the LCE slowly gained momentum among high schools and CEGEPs, several threats threatened its sustainability: the league relied mainly on volunteers and was not self-sufficient, private companies wanted to establish themselves in Quebec, and other student league projects were in the pipeline.

The solution: solve the problem at source. Who are the LCE participants? Student institutions. So we needed a partnership with them. I sat down with Jasmin Roy, Director of Student Affairs and Communications at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit. Together, we discussed the idea of a college league that would be jointly owned by the Fédération des Cégeps and the FQSE. Working committees were quickly set up, with outstanding personnel from both the FQSE and the Fédération des Cégeps. The Ligue collégiale de sports électroniques (LCSE) was born.

At the same time, we founded the Ligue scolaire de sports électroniques (LSSE). However, since there was no umbrella organization at the high school level, I wasn’t able to establish the same kind of partnership.

By fall 2021, the majority of CEGEPs will be competing in the LCSE, the league is perennial and will only continue to grow.