ESPORTS CURE FOR VARSITY BLUES.
For student athletes at Canadian universities, the 202021 season is, basically, a bust, with competitive play cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Esports seems to be stepping into the void. For the uninitiated, esports is video gaming, and it's on the rise in a competitive and organized way at university and college campuses.
Garrett Holmes, founder of the Canadian Student- Athlete Association, says the decision to cancel competitive athletics at schools could not be avoided. There's no way, for example, to wrestle safely. Fall athletics were a writeoff, and U Sports, Canada West and Ontario University Athletics have cancelled winter sports competitions.
“We support this decision, but there's also no input from student athletes,” Holmes said. “Schools can't actually play games or anything against other schools, so in reality, there's no season.”
While 2020-21 is a lost year for student athletes, esports are on the rise. The games stream online, via a variety of platforms, and draw audiences. Esports have become a spectator sport over the past decade, and now mainstream sports networks such as ESPN are broadcasting major events.
There's enough interest on campus that 17 Ontario universities have joined for the inaugural season of the Ontario Post- Secondary Esports league, which organizes competitions between teams that are affiliated with universities.
James Fitzgerald, the league commissioner, and a Carleton University alum, said the league started preparing for the pilot season last spring when it became clear that regular athletics would be interrupted by COVID-19, and a very different year on campus overall, with many students going to school and classes online.
“We had an opportunity here, a vacuum,” Fitzgerald said.
By getting school athletics departments involved, esports are developing interschool rivalries and player training and development opportunities
That is helping to elevate esports overall, and draw more awareness and recognition than when leagues were more informally run by students, Fitzgerald said.
The new league in Ontario is offering scholarship prizes valued at $24,000.
“I think this is the direction and future of where esports was heading ... but I do think the pandemic accelerated that growth,” said Fitzgerald.