DASMARIÑAS, Cavite—PROJECT: Ikigai, an organization at De La Salle University–Dasmariñas, announced on Wednesday, September 11, the formation of its official E-Sports team, which will represent the university in tournaments around the country.
Ikigai, in collaboration with the Council of Student Organizations, presented Team Orcinus – a multi-game e-sports team that aims to help DLSU-D students reach their potential as professional gamers.
On its official Facebook page, the organization introduced the first seven members of ORCA: Chaze, Beefs, Aysi, Yamaboon, Kensuu, Aran, and Yner.
ORCA is Team Orcinus’ team tag.
In an interview, Cathleen Joyce Tarzona, the manager of Team Orcinus’ Valorant Team, confirmed that their team would represent the university in local and regional E-Sports competitions.
Aside from Valorant, she shared that they also formed a team to compete in other popular games, such as Tekken, which has four participants; League of Legends, which has six members; and Mobile Legends, which has six players.
While they have not received any benefits from DLSU-D for representing the university as they’re not yet considered varsity players, Tarzona disclosed that potential sponsors have already pledged to support the team.
When asked what differentiated Orcinus from the collegiate Esports Team at DLSU-D, she said their team members were handpicked based on their skills to ensure they could compete in professional e-sports tournaments outside the university.
She explained that colleges had difficulties forming teams for certain e-sports with similar or balanced skill sets, and establishing Orcinus removed those limits as they were allowed to recruit players from different colleges.
Tarzona said that Orcinus opened their recruitment for Team B of Valorant, Mobile Legends, and Tekken.
She also encouraged the interested students of DLSU-D to join the tryouts for Orcinus.
“Don’t be pressured, siguro skills is the basis pero there is no harm for trying naman,” she said.
In 2023, DLSU-D formally recognized e-sports events on the campus by adding the term ‘electronic sports’ to the official student handbook.
Update: Corrections on some information about Team Orcinus.
