Calista on another level

Calista Primary School won this year’s FUSE Cup, claiming winning back-to-back titles.

The competition, held on the Gold Coast, saw students from across Australia compete in a range of age-appropriate e-games, including Just Dance 2024, Mario Kart, and Rocket League.

Calista’s team, consisting of Erika (Year 6), Harry (Year 5), Brock (Year 5), and Vian (Year 6), was victorious in the ‘Just Dance 2024’ category. 

"It was unbelievable to be able to go to the Gold Coast, let alone win the trophy and it was just amazing," said Harry.  

"I got interested in technology at ICT and gaming. I always loved (gaming) and I probably started gaming when I got a Nintendo in Year 3." 

Erika said that the long trip to southern Queensland was worth it. 

"When traveling to the Gold Coast, it was a long plane ride, as well as a long car ride from Brisbane to the Gold Coast,” she said.  

“It felt very long, but worth it.  

“When we went to compete, it was very scary, but when they announced Calista as the team champion winners, it felt unreal to be holding the trophy." 

Elaina Lam, Calista’s digital technologies specialist teacher, said she was proud of what the team had achieved. 

“It was quite daunting to go back, representing Calista again,” she said.  

“I think the students felt a little bit of pressure to perform well, not only for their team, but for their school.  

“It was still very exciting though, all the hard work from the students and parents, with fundraising and practicing was all worth it to see the absolute happiness and surprise on their faces. All the mums were crying with joy and hugging the kids, it was very sweet.  

“I was so happy for my students and a little proud of myself for being able to give them the opportunity to compete nationally and travel over to the Gold Coast.” 

The FUSE Cup is an international school esports competition that is focused on providing young students with an opportunity to participate in safe, inclusive, supportive and structured school-based esports competition while developing positive gaming behaviours and digital wellbeing. 

The Calista team’s preparation involved months of hard work. They won the regionals in Term 2 and then spent Term 3 training up the Mario Kart drivers.  

After that competition and training period had ended, they used lunch breaks in Term 4 to for extra practice. 

“The students would come in at lunchtime, set up the Switch, and run their own practice sessions, choosing the songs that they all thought they needed more practice in,” Elaina said.  

“The students also practiced at home. Not all of them have a Nintendo Switch at home, so some would go on YouTube and dance to the song through that.” 

Looking ahead, Elaina hopes to continue participating in the FUSE Cup in the future.  

“Many students in the lower years have been saying they are very excited to join,” she said.  

More information about the competition is available on the FUSE Cup website - https://www.thefusecup.com.au/ 

To read about Calista Primary’s win last year, visit our website.