Handball, Football and Fortnite: E-sports clubs are popping up like never before

Erik Lillelund
maj 10, 2022

Erik Lillelund

@Erik

In a few years, e-sports has become a regular fixture in public sports clubs, who are queuing up to engage young gamers in meaningful gaming communities.

Even though people are still getting together when the city’s children play a match for the local football club or the youth teams clash on the handball court, e-sports have today taken its place in society and the associations.

“Children and young people get a great deal out of being part of communities in an organized framework where one’s competencies are recognized. It develops many social skills when they learn to communicate with each other, to express emotions, help each other as a team and generally be add value to others,” says Christian Cramer, former e-sports consultant at the public sports organization DGI and one of the driving forces behind the national efforts on the subject.

Since 2017, when DGI first launched initiatives to integrate e-sports into communities, it has only gone one way: Up. In just five years, about 200 associations have been formed and with 7.200 active members, all training Fortnite, Counter-Strike, FIFA or other games at competition or leisure level.

The training is similar to any other sport: the coach sets out with a presentation of the focus area of the day, which the players train through isolated exercises. Then usually a training match followed by an evaluation of the process made.

“Just like if they practised football, they grow as individuals. You learn as a person to celebrate success and to reflect on defeats,” Christian Cramer explains.

The sport’s newfound recognition sport means that many children and young people who would otherwise sit isolated in their room are now more physically active as part of team-building with their e-sports team. In addition, they can easier share their experiences in the gaming world with others.

“Parents are happy that the time that children invest in the games is much more clearly translated into competencies and good habits,” Christian Cramer says, who a few months ago resigned from his position at DGI and founded the platform EHUB, which aims to make it easier for coaches and volunteers to arrange esports training.

Fakta: Esportsforeninger i Danmark

Mellem 2017-2022 er der grundlagt omkring 200 foreninger med 7.200 aktive medlemmer.
Danmark er en af verdens førende nationer inden for esport med to verdensmestre i fodboldspillet FIFA og verdens højest rangerende Counter-Strike hold.
Over 60 procent af danske efterskoler har e-sport som valg- og linjefag.