What’s next for the Esports Youth Club that caught Prince William’s attention? An interview with co-founder Lewis Kay

Almost four years ago, Lewis Kay was working in an area that had the worst gang violence record in the whole of Europe. 

Today, his project to positively engage with young people via video games has drawn none other than Prince William to celebrate its impact on the community. The club runs free daily gaming sessions with hot meals and snacks, with hubs in West Norwood, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark.

How did the Esports Youth Club manage to do this? What’s it all about? And how will it grow in the future? Esports Insider asked him all this and more, including the Prince’s views on the activities. 

First, let’s go back to the early days of the not-for-profit community interest company. Lewis Kay founded Esports Youth Club in the summer of 2021 with his friends Finan Trethewey and Mark Bird.

“We had the idea just after lockdown – I was working at Lambeth Council as a housing officer looking after Tulse Hill estate in Brixton, which, at the time, was the worst for gang violence in the whole of Europe,” he told Esports Insider. 

“So, not the best kind of statistic to have attributed to yourself, but I really loved the estate and the community. That was a really big part of the job that I enjoyed. 

“I was often out in the estate, getting involved with TRA (Tenants and Residents Associations) meetings and getting to grips with what the community had to offer for everyone. That included young people. I’ve always been a big fan of video games and esports in general – I’m a massive Call of Duty player.

“I was watching a lot of esports competitions during lockdown, as I’m sure lots of people were, and the PS5 was just coming out, there was a big hype around it and it was very difficult to get hold of. 

“When I was younger, I’d go to youth clubs and get involved in things like PS1 with a multi-link controller set up and play lots of Crash Bandicoot and games like that. I would always love it because, as someone who is a bit more shy, it’d be a way to play with other people, to engage and interact and talk to each other. You can have the screen you’re looking at, and then you can speak to the person that you’re playing with. 

“I find it’s a really good way to build connections. So I wanted to emulate a bit of an esports-style setup, but for the community, and so it would be free, and it would have that kind of element of excitement around the PS5.”

Esports Youth Club used some early funding to purchase several gaming monitors, and Lewis acquired some old games consoles from friends. They began teaming up with other community groups, bringing screens, consoles and virtual reality headsets to venues to run structured tournaments, free play days and Fortnite academy sessions. 

“We always say we’re a youth club first, and then we use esports as our main activity and focus,” Kay continued. 

“Something I saw when I was a housing officer was that there are a lot of issues in social housing around things like overcrowding and other issues to do with crime, antisocial behaviour and stuff like that. It all kind of feeds into that estate mentality. So our whole thing is about providing fun, safe spaces where young people can do the things that they love to do, and engage with each other.”

Esports Youth Club now runs seven events a week as a community interest company, so it’s not for profit and relies on grants and events that keep going. It also runs other initiatives, with the All Girls Allowed charity, namely the Power Play series of gaming sessions for girls aged 11 to 18, providing them with a safe and inclusive space. 

Kay worked on Esports Youth Club during the evenings and weekends, then got a job with Ukie, the trade body for the UK video games industry, where he worked on its Digital Schoolhouse programme. 

“That gave me some really good experience and insight into using esports as an educational vehicle and how it can link into uplifting computer science curricula,” he highlighted. “Also, helping students with attendance in school or their interest in being a part of something, and filling that gap where some young people might think that there’s not really a space for them anywhere”. 

“I think that esports and video games in general do such a good job of being there for a lot of young people.” 

Now, for the past six months, Kay has been running Esports Youth Club full-time, with 10 freelance youth workers and two part-time hub managers. 

“It’s been so helpful to have my friends involved [as fellow co-founders], to help support and just make it all happen,” he added. “It’s not a lone journey, by any means. The youth workers I work with and the hub managers bring so much knowledge and expertise, but more importantly than that, they bring their enthusiasm; they love it. 

“Their feedback on how great it is and how much it always works is really motivational. So, it’s really invaluable.”

Esports Youth Club made national headlines last month when Prince William paid a special visit to Mentivity House in Southwark.

Arsenal footballer Reiss Nelson and Tim Campbell from The Apprentice also visited to give talks and engage with the youth. So, how did the youth club manage to attract such names?

“It’s actually kind of boring how it came about!” Esports Youth Club co-founder Lewis Kay admitted. 

“The youth club Prince William visited, Mentivity House, we have been there every Friday afternoon for the last six months. And to be fair, it initially started off from a small £2,000 grant to cover us to run sessions there every Friday. That only lasted up to a certain amount of time, because, you know, it cost quite a lot for us to travel there and back every Friday, with all the equipment, running the sessions with the staff and everything. 

“Sayce Holmes-Lewis, who runs Mentivity House, is a fantastic mentor for a lot of people, and he mentored people like Reiss Nelson, for instance, a footballer who plays for Arsenal, and he’s a big leader in the community there. 

“Straight away, when we met, he was like, ‘alright, I need you guys here every week because it’s great and we have a lot of young people, and we need to ensure you’re not just here for a set period of time, then you’re gone’. 

“[…] Sayce is also on the mayor’s advisory board for policing, so he advises the police on what they’re doing wrong with stop and search and things like that. He does a lot of important work, and he was reached out to. Essentially, Prince William wanted to visit Mentivity House because of the advocacy work. They must be one of the busiest youth clubs in the borough in Southwark, because there are so many young people there all the time. 

“So they got in touch with Prince William, and he wanted to come down and visit. They contacted us and asked can we come down and set up all the gaming equipment, and we can have some fun with Prince William and play some games’.

Kay was actually away on holiday when the Royal Prince visited and played Mario Kart and FC (as his favourite team, Aston Villa) with the young people there.

“He really enjoyed it,” Kay said. “I think he got beaten [as Aston Villa on FC], but he had a good time!

“Apparently, he really loved it and was a really nice guy. There were a lot of people outside trying to take photos and meet him. It was lovely and a great moment for young people – it’s something that they won’t forget. 

“It’s awesome to see these kinds of figures like Prince William, Reiss Nelson and Tim Campbell, and it’s so uplifting to see those figures just giving support and being in that space.”

Esports Youth Club co-founder Lewis Kay continued: “Prince William came away from his visit saying that he wants to know how he can implement that across the country. 

“This space is amazing, and it does so much like invaluable work, and we’re a part of that. So we’re really proud of that, and yeah, hopefully we can get it to grow more across the country, because I’m sure there are lots of places that could benefit from it. 

“Expanding into new areas may mean partnering up with existing organisations in different areas and working with them, upskilling them and sharing what we do with them. We could also go to an area that employs some young people to do it and train them up ourselves.”

Ultimately, one of the biggest goals for Esports Youth Club was to have their own permanent space. 

“With that, we can really begin to actually put together a team and nurture some proper talent, as well as offering it as a free community space as well,” Kay stated. “Lambeth Council have recently given us a new space in Clapham. So we’re doing up that space a little bit. 

“I was thinking recently about maybe offering an opportunity out to anyone that’s looking to furnish an esports space or has experience in interior design, or wants to get into interior design and that side of things. 

“So to have that and to have full-time members of staff [would be great] because we get a lot of inquiries that we actually can’t do. Things in different boroughs across London or sometimes even outside of London. So I’d love to be able to get to a point where we’re able to do more of that kind of stuff, and continue what we’re doing, like really refining our programmes so they work really well. 

“And then beyond that, in the future, the dream one day is to see a team of ours, a dedicated group of young people, competing in some kind of tournament. That would be awesome. 

“The only issue there is they may need the equipment potentially away from our space to be able to train in the meantime. So that’s why we want our own flagship place where maybe they could come more often every day outside of our structured sessions to use that space to train and do whatever they need to do. That would be really cool.”

Esports Youth Club is also open to exploring more corporate partnerships. One of its earliest supporters was games publisher 2K, with whom it took over a railway arch in late 2022 and made it into an esports venue with over 10 community groups to use, with open access on the weekends. Well-known British esports host Frankie Ward also made an appearance.

“We’ve partnered with people in the esports industry in the past, who have given us a lot of in-kind support, like Fnatic when we started up they gave us loads of headsets,” Kay continued. 

“HyperX has given us a lot of hardware and stuff like that. To get someone like Sony to give us loads of PlayStations would be great, because that’s one of our biggest expenses! 

“When we did the EYC Cup before, that was with the Met Police, and we went round to 13 different youth clubs and got a winner from each. We hosted a FIFA tournament and a 2K tournament at each and got a winner from each, and then we hosted a grand final. 

“The grand final that we did for 2K was at the 2K head offices in central London. Stuff like that is a really cool experience because we were able to bring the young people and their families down to the venue, and they were able to get an insight into it all.

“It just felt like a much bigger occasion and a big sense of achievement for them to be there. It’s also inspiring for them for the future, which is kind of what we’re all about.”

With the progress, potential and positivity Esports Youth Club offers, and plans to register as an official charity in the future, the only way seems to be up for them. Perhaps even the King could be encouraged to try something cool and get his game on at a future event?