Sworn to secrecy I couldn’t say anything about this at the time. The theory was we had to wait for the army to make their own announcement before we could share it but I don’t remember seeing anything. It’s now been long enough that I don’t believe sharing this should be any issue.
I helped host an esports event for the NZ Defense Force at the Burnham Military Camp just outside Christchurch. Soldiers vs soldiers. And it was the most exciting and fun event I’ve been a part of. The small room was full of rowdy soldier types in full support of their teams cheering and hollering at every play. On particular last second save in Rocket League had the place erupting. Truly epic.
I was helping setting all the equipment up and getting the games running properly, packing things away afterwards and that sort of thing.
The event was a test as part of the standard military sports week. We setup 30+ PCs and consoles for everyone to come have a try over a few days. We then had a dedicated competition area/time slot for the competition. The competition was between units (Idk military terms) who had nominated teams across Rocket League, Call of Duty, and Drone Racing.
Truly bizarre to go into a military base and have all the hardy army boys and big wigs arrive to play video games but truly so much fun.
Esports for soldiers has continued to grow with the Air Force posting about it in 2023: https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/media-centre/news/the-advance-of-air-force-esports/
The army hosts loooots of sporting related events (so trying esports makes sense): https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/media-centre/news/defence-force-sports-a-year-in-review/