CISP Esports Academy is a three-tiered program modeled after established sports and arts academies. It provides a wide, accessible entry point for students, a paid development pathway open to participants beyond the CISP community, and an elite competitive tier representing the school. Combined with a credit-bearing curricular track, the Academy transforms gaming from an after-school hobby into a structured, recognized institution for competition, education, and student development.
Open to all CISP students, Middle School and High School alike, at no additional cost, included as a standard co-curricular activity. Low-commitment, drop-in style sessions twice a week, run by student leads and the faculty advisor, with age-appropriate groupings so younger Middle School players aren't matched against older High Schoolers. This is the funnel: any CISP student can try competitive gaming in a structured, safe environment, and the strongest players are scouted upward into the Academy tiers.
A paid, seasonal, structured coaching program for Middle and High School students that is modeled directly from the current Soccer and Volleyball Academy. Open to CISP students and to Middle/High School students from other Phnom Penh schools, enrolling externally for a term fee. This tier is coached, curriculum-driven, and the primary external revenue engine for the whole venture (Business & Academy Model). It is also, quietly, an admissions funnel: external families experiencing CISP's standards firsthand are a natural prospective-family pipeline for the school.
Invite-only, drawn from Foundation and Development participants, restricted to enrolled CISP High School students for competitive eligibility, age-bracket fairness, and liability reasons (mirroring how most scholastic esports leagues compete at the high school level). This is the tier that competes under the CISP name in regional scholastic leagues and inter-school fixtures such as the Cambodian Esports Federation. Students would follow the same eligibility standards (GPA, attendance, conduct) as every other CISP varsity sport. Strong Middle School players in the Foundation and Development tiers have a clear, visible pathway up into this squad once they reach High School.
Feeding all three tiers is a CTF elective, Esports & Digital Strategy, open to any CISP student regardless of tier — covering game strategy and analysis, esports management (event planning, budgeting, sponsorship), content creation (livestreaming, editing, broadcast), and digital wellness and performance. This is what makes the Academy an educational institution, not just a competitive club, and it's the layer every family can see the value of, whether or not their child ever competes. In middle school, this would operate under an Alberta Career and Technology Foundations elective similar to Architecture & 3D design, Graphic Design, and Robotics. For the high school bracket it would be a module program following a Career and Technology Studies.
Year 1 converts the current computer lab (24 iMacs) into a dual-use space. It will be a standard lab by day and an 8-station (PC) Academy training space after school, sized for Foundation and early Development Academy numbers.
Year 2, sized to external Development Academy enrollment, scales to a purpose-fitted arena with multimedia broadcast capability.