Montreal High School Launches First Esports Pro Gaming Studies Program

Édouard-Montpetit High School has just introduced Montreal’s first esports studies program, that will take up 10 to 15 students in the first year and will cost $2,500 a year, CBC News is reporting. Since gaming is not recognized as an official sport in Quebec, school administrators have decided to include esports in their concentration program.

“A former student of Édouard-Montpetit who was part of the [Montreal Esports] Academy proposed the idea,” said Alain Perron, a spokesperson for the Commission Scolaire de Montréal. The program has been decided between training, theory, and physical exercise.

The students’ daily schedule will include the following:

• 30 minutes of physical activity.
• 75 minutes of theory.
• 120 minutes of gaming.
• 15-minute break.

The gaming component will take the form of structured-game play with a personal coach. They’ll train on games like StarCraft II, Super Smash Bros, and League of Legends. The theory section will include lectures on subjects like how to position yourself inside a first-person shooter, how to manage resources in strategy games, and sports psychology.

Students will also do at least 30  minutes of physical exercise per day.

A similar program also exists in Saguenay, about 200 kilometres north of Quebec City, where students learn how to game for about two and a half hours a day.