ESports Club Looks To Become Official High School Sport
An eSports club at McDonald County High School is seeking to become an official sport.
Teachers Jody Richards and Kamireon Douglas are sponsors for the club, which has been meeting since early November. They explained what eSports is and what the draw is for students.
Richards said, “eSports is playing sports electronically. Instead of going to a field in real life, they sit in front of a computer and compete with other players, either next to them or across the state or across the country. There’s the same team components. They have to work together as a team. There’s tons and tons of practicing. There’s high school teams, college teams and professional teams.”
Douglas said, “Much like other sports, they’re creating scholarship opportunities for students because it is a very lucrative business. For the price of just the pads in football, you can build a PC that can play most any game.”
He added eSports has a worldwide audience.
“The world championships for one of the games we played had more viewers than the Superbowl,” he said. “It’s one of the few global sports that every country plays.”
The club is seeking permission from the school board to become an official sport and to join a nationwide league.
Douglas said, “Since it’s a relatively new thing, it’s only grown in the last few years. Schools in our area don’t have this yet. It’s starting to grow. There are no boundaries to who they can compete against, as long as they’re high school.”
One of the most popular eSports games in the world is League of Legends, a free game. Others include Hearthstone, Overwatch and Rocket League.
“We’re seeking to ever expand,”
reaching is females.”
He added, “What we’ve Douglas said. noticed is we’ve got the band The club has 39 active kids playing with the jocks members. playing with the drama kids Douglas said it is “one of playing with the academics. the few activities that spans It’s pretty cool.”
the spectrum.” Three of seven students “You’ll find students from at a recent practice were not every grade level, every involved in any other extracurricular grade-point average …” he activities. One of said. the goals of the club is to Richards noted, “The only reach students who are not group we’ve had trouble involved in other extracurricular activities.
JJ Richards, who is Richards’ son, is vice president of the club.
He said, “I like eSports because I play games a lot and it was a time for me to connect with other people. This club has brought us closer together and I hope this friendship lasts.”
Jacob Cooper is president of the club and its founder. He approached Richards and Douglas and asked them to sponsor the club and got some other students involved.
“This is kind of a safe haven for kids who aren’t athletic and they can come here and participate and have fun,” he said. “It builds a lot of strategy, teamwork, communication and trust. You can get scholarships. You can get involved in this and have so many opportunities — even making it to the pros.”