ESports players eye careers in gaming
GREENWICH — When Denzel Hoggar moved from Ghana to Greenwich a few years ago, his cousin introduced him to video games.
First, Hoggar played the soccer franchise FIFA, then he became interested in Call of Duty, a first-person shooter game that allows players to participate in historical and fictional wars. For Hoggar, then a Central Middle School student, the games were a fun new hobby in a new place.
But as he entered Greenwich High School, the now 15-year-old freshman saw an opportunity to take a more vocational approach to his pastime.
“I was introduced by a school email I got,” Hoggar said.
“We were supposed to pick the club we wanted to join and I saw eSports. So I did some research on it about whether eSports could give you a scholarship. I read an article that said, yeah, it can. So I was like, why not sign up?”
ESports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competitive video gaming that is growing in popularity around the world. Hoggar, now one of more than 40 members of the eSports Club at Greenwich High, is part of a growing pool of young gamers identifying an opportunity in what some see as just a sparetime hobby.
Increasingly, gaming can be a path to college and a career. And it earns more respect, the comparisons are growing to more traditional sports.
The club at Greenwich High was created in 2018, according to science teacher and club adviser Richard Baxley. In the same year that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference launched its high school eSports league,
three students jump-started the club, which competes against other schools on a variety of platforms, including PC, Xbox, PlayStation and more.
“This was at a time where there was now a precedent,” Baxley said. Colleges “had started up some of these programs. There were arenas being built . ... And the kids wanted to start a program at the high school level.”
Through the CIAC, two games, in particular, are league sanctioned: League of Legends and Rocket League. Other games, including Call of Duty, Valorant and Rainbow 6 are also played in regional or local tournaments. At Greenwich High, seven different teams compete in the different games.
It’s still in its early stages, but the Greenwich High club has scored some success early on in regional competitions, but hasn’t earned top honors at a state competition.
But increasingly, the club is gaining support from the school and the community that could help it reach the next step. The nonprofit Greenwich Alliance for Education recently donated $12,000 to the club to help purmembers,
chase 12 new gaming computers.
“It is exciting for the Alliance to invest in the technology needed by the eSport’s Club to expand participation for students who want to be part of a GHS team and share interest in competitive gaming,” GAE Executive Director Julie Faryniarz said in a statement. “Additionally, the cultivation of the wide array of skills associated with competitive gaming is giving student’s experience to explore the possibilities of this growing field.”
ESports are growing at the collegiate level as well. Nearly 200 schools host varsity eSports teams and offer scholarships, according to the National Association of Collegiate Esports.
And although there is significant variability — based on skill level and types of game played — when it comes to salary, the average professional gamer can make about $60,000 a year. Elite players can make millions. And on platforms such as Twitch, popular gamers can stream themselves playing and charge subscription feeds. Full-time streamers can make $3,000 to $5,000 a month, according to some estimates.
For some of Greenwich’s club
becoming an elite gamer or popular streamer remains a goal. But according to Baxley, a host of other gamingrelated careers — in graphics, programming, casting and communications — are expanding along with competitive gaming.
Andrew Rovello, 14, a Greenwich High freshman and club member, said he hopes to find a college with competitive gaming. He’s considering a career as a content creator or streamer, but as a backup, he’d love to become an engineer at a large video gamemaking company.
Like Rovello, for Cristofer Santana, also a 15-year-old Greenwich freshman, gaming represents a possible career opportunity.
“For a large portion of my life, I’ve been playing video games and a lot of people see that as a waste of time,” said Santanna. “But then when you look at people that are making a living from recording and using that as entertainment for others, or just being really good at the game and performing tournaments, it makes you think, ‘Why can’t I do that?’”
In addition to the members’ individual aspirations, the club has its own short-term goals.
Chief among them is making the leap from a club at Greenwich High to earning recognition as a varsity sport, which would require the submission of a formal request and approval from the Board of Education.
According to Baxley, there are pros and cons to making the change.
As a varsity team, the club would lose some of its freedom to schedule games and tournaments, which would again fall under the purview of the school. It was also lose its ability to seek outside sponsorships. But as a varsity team, the club would get automatic funding each year through the athletic department.
And perhaps most importantly to the players, the sports designation would bring a sense of respect.
“My biggest push is to be respected,” Rovello said. “Because a lot of parents are saying like, ‘Get off your computers, you’re wasting your time and all that stuff.’ I don’t know anyone who would do that to, like, a football player. Right?”