“You are the BEST mom ever!”
Those were the words from my 10-year-old son, along with the biggest hug, when I told him that I signed him up to participate in a Fortnite League with NXT UP Esports. We started letting him play Fortnite last year with lots of monitoring. For obvious safety reasons, he only plays with his friends from school or lacrosse and his cousins in Arizona. I know at times that can get boring, so when I found out about NXT UP Esports and had the opportunity to let my son participate in the winter Fortnite league, I did my research and knew this would be good for him.
NXT UP Esports provides programs for children ages 7-15 (split into groups 7-10 & 11-15) of all skill levels that are safe and fun. All their programs are run by trained, high-level coaches who must pass third-party background checks before working with children. You can be sure that your child is always safe. As a mom, that makes me feel at ease. Children are paired with others who are close in age and skill. This is especially good so everyone can feel good about themselves and their accomplishments. NXT UP Esports really tries to focus on developing each player’s self-confidence and social skills, as well as helping them get better at the games they love to play. The communication is wonderful. The founder of NXT UP Esports sends a weekly email for each group as a reminder of their practice and game times for that week. Before the league started there was a virtual meeting that parents were encouraged to listen to.
My son loves that he can now play with other kids and has made some new friends. He really looks forward to his Tuesday and Thursday practices and Friday games. He even found out one of his teammate’s mom was also a Macaroni Kid publisher. How cool is that! My son loves his coach, Kayla. He says she is very knowledgeable and super funny. I love that the practices and games are structured and always monitored. Communication is done through the Discord app, which is a digital communication app NXT UP Esports uses to maintain safe and clear communication. Only the coach and children are allowed into the group chat. Children only play with other children in their group.
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Chatting with his coach and group | Game on!! | Thumbs up! Happy boy!! |
My son played on his Nintendo Switch, but players can participate in the programs by playing on the following platforms:
- Fortnite: Computer, Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch
- Minecraft: Computer (Java version of the game)
- League of Legends: Computer
Overall, this has been such a great experience for my son. He has learned new skills, learned teamwork in a new way, how to communicate better, as well as made new friends who he now can play with at other times. NXT UP Esports truly are leaders in youth gaming and esports programs.
Does your child love gaming? NXT UP Esports is offering some fun online camps this summer. Let them take a break from the summer heat while having fun playing games that they love. All their summer camps are virtual and are specific to one game which includes Fortnite, League of Legends, or Minecraft.
Gaming Summer Camps are each one week long, five days a week for four hours each day starting at 9 am PST/12 pm EST.
The schedule for virtual summers camps are as follows:
- June 14 - June 18: League of Legends
- June 21 - June 25: Fortnite
- July 12 - July 16: Minecraft
- July 19 - July 23: Fortnite
- July 26 - July 30: League of Legends
- August 2 - August 6: Fortnite
Registration closes one week before each camp starts.
What's Included
- 20 hours of instruction (that’s less than $8/hour!)
- Custom camp t-shirt
- Individual and team activities
- Camp tournament
- Coaching from high-level players
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*This campaign is sponsored by NXT UP Esports. I received complimentary products and/or compensation for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
