The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
District esports paving the way
Esports is continuing to grow as more and more groups in the video game industry support the live competitions of various games.
With the popularity of esports growing over the past decade, more and more games are being created and designed specifically for these competitions.
And, more and more companies are sponsoring these widely-viewed events.
As esports has grown, the competitions have made their way to college campuses and now are spawning programs at the high school and junior high levels.
Amherst Exempted Village Schools is leading the way for esports as the students had a season in the fall and are preparing for the spring.
“We are going to be starting our second season,” said Amanda Sears, technology innovation specialist at Amherst, who made the initial push to have esports in Amherst schools. “The teams have been doing very well.
“The spring season is going to start soon and that will run from March to June. They’re going to have tryouts to see who is the best at each game. We turned a room into our official esports room.
“Brian Rubinski, who is the coach at the High School (Marion L. Steele) is doing a great job. We had also had Chris Perdue, at the junior high, take the liberty of starting an (Amherst Junior High) team. Now, you will have these kids in junior high seeding up into the high school. It’s kind of nice to see how it all evolved.”
Sears said she now has spoken to folks from other school districts about esports.
“It’s interesting now, too, because we have a lot of schools reaching out to our school, which is pretty cool,” she said. “They want to know how to get their esports started.
“I actually presented at a conference (Ohio Education Technology Conference, February 2020). So, we had schools from all over the state coming to see how Amherst started their esports team.
“I had a slide show set up and I showed them the basic reasons as to why you want a team, how it is beneficial for students and how to set it up. I then give them contacts like for our athletic director and coaches so that their athletic director and coach can call ours.”
Sears said esports also doesn’t require students to leave their home to practice.
Students can practice from home or school, and they really practice from anywhere,” she said. “Brian sets that up because you do have to practice together for Overwatch for teamwork, but that can be all done online. It has made it continue despite COVID.”
Support from Amherst
Sears said Amherst really has made esports happen for the students.
“I feel Amherst does a really good job of meeting kids where they are and offering those opportunities to kind of reach and make sure kids can be as successful as possible,” she said. “When you think of how many people you know that game, and then you give them a platform to compete, that’s amazing.
“Then you have some of the guys that are also playing basketball and football, and it’s really this bridge between your traditional athletes and your traditional non athletes, and that is pretty cool, too.”
Sears said it was not too difficult for the program to get off the ground.
“Not for us, Nordson (Corporation) has helped out; they donated money to help us get started,” she said. “We have been very lucky; it was also the help with the equipment needed.
“That was the other thing I had in my presentation, was what do you need as far as the gaming consoles and the types of computers. Some people are hesitant about making those purchases, but you should look at it like as how many people play tennis at a high school?
“In a whole high school of students, you might have about 10 kids into tennis. When you talk about gaming, there are hundreds, if not a 1,000 kids in your high school that play games. You kind of have to put that in perspective and kind of meet kids where they are today.”
More video games?
Sears said there is hesitation by some to encourage more video games for students.
“Some places may not want to because they aren’t sure if they want their kids playing more video games, but they are already gaming so you might as well make it competitive in a group forum and safe environment,” she said. “Also, some kids may not have a Nintendo Switch at home because they can’t afford one, but we are able to provide it for them at school.
“I’m not really into video games, but I know kids are. It’s our job to meet the needs of the students.
“We also have a GPA requirement for students that want to be on the team, just like any sport, so that helps them still have a focus on academics.
We also have the gamer’s club, too, so there is a place for the kids, even if they do not make any of the teams.”
Rubinski said esports would have kicked off a year ago, but the novel coronavirus pandemic halted things.
“This is the first full year for us,” he said. “We attempted to start it in spring 2020, but it got cancelled with all of the COVID closures.
“Amanda Sears saw esports taking off and she approached administration about starting a team. I was already the moderator of the Gamer’s Club here where kids would just come to the Creative Learning Center once a week and play games.
“So, they called me and asked me about it. We then got a grant from Nordson and our tech department was on board to help set things up.”
Rubinski said he then applied to be the esports coach for the school in 2019
“I felt with the support from everyone that it would be a pretty interesting endeavor,” he said. “I grew up with games, so I kind of understand that, and I felt it would be fun.”
Esports opportunities
Rubinski said there is some pitching that needs to be done to parents.
“It’s different to get folks to understand because it’s different from other sporting competitions because a lot of people don’t know the kinds of opportunities they have,” he said. “When you are in esports, we were able to pitch to the parents that it would be similar to other sports with regulations.
“This is something that offers opportunities for college scholarships to play on their teams and professional opportunities as well and things like that.”
Rubinski said the students have a nice, dedicated space for play and practice.
“We have a room that we have dedicated to esports,” he said. “We have our own internet connection solely for the players.
“We have gotten a lot of help from the school and the tech department which has helped me to be able to focus on getting the students onboard, forming the teams and really setting up the program.”
Unlike other sports, esports programs at schools have individual teams for each different video game they play.
“Right now, we field one Overwatch team that plays six-on-six,” he said. “That is our dedicated team that practices on Mondays and plays on Tuesdays.
“They went 5-1 this past fall. We also have a Super Smash Bros. team. It’s a team of five, but they play one-on-one. The winner is the team that has three winners from the matches. They play on Wednesday and practice on Thursday.”
Rubinski said the Amherst teams are part of the Esports Ohio League.
“They are a free league, and it is run by education tech department guys for different districts,” he said. “There are over 100 high schools that are apart of the league.
“There are some other pay leagues, but this was a great way to get things going for us. They then set the matches up and make it an easy process for us.
“They also have a playoff system and have a state championship at the end. It’s really a great way to have these guys compete and do something they have a passion for.”