Jena, March 26, 2026 – A Jena e-sports club is breaking new ground in youth work. Through collaborative computer gaming, social skills and the personality development of children and young people are to be specifically promoted.
- Topic: E-sports as a tool for social work
- Location: Jena
- Goal: Strengthening personality and teamwork
- Concept: From a purely digital space to a real social meeting point
From the Screen to the Real Meeting Point
For many parents, gaming is still not a welcome leisure activity. An e-sports club in Jena is now attempting to change this image and use the fascination for computer games constructively. Instead of sitting alone in their rooms at home, gaming becomes a real, physical meeting point for adolescents.
Promotion Through Digital Worlds
What begins on the internet is directed into structured channels within the club. Collaborative play is at the forefront and serves as a tool to promote the social interaction of young people. It is not primarily about the mere victory on the screen, but about the shared path to get there: team coordination, enduring defeats, and mutual support. In this way, children are meant to learn skills that are important for their personal development along the way.
Background: E-sports and Youth Work in Jena
Jena, as a young and dynamic university city, provides an ideal breeding ground for modern approaches to social work. While classic youth centers such as Polaris or Klex continue to be essential contact points in the city area, e-sports fills a gap for highly digitally-oriented young people. Media educators increasingly emphasize that competitive gaming in a supervised club environment conveys similar values to traditional team sports. These include frustration tolerance, strategic thinking, communication skills, and a strong team spirit. Through pedagogical support, adolescents are also taught a reflective and healthy consumption behavior in dealing with digital media.
Source:
Gaming as youth work – does it work?
Transparency note: This article was created automatically, editorially reviewed, and expanded with AI support.