Concordia University Texas Announces Collegiate Esports Initiative
From high school to college, esports is breaking into our education system to help normalize competitive gaming. Not to mention, finding our up-and-coming esports stars early is never a bad thing. A large portion of gamers interested in esports are in the younger demographics.
A wise man once said, “get ‘em while they’re young!” Maybe not wise. I think that was the cigarette companies. Either way, it applies to this situation!
Concordia Collegiate Esports Initiative
To be the first to something as big as esports is commendable. Concordia University Texas, with that in mind, is the first esports program in Austin, Texas. The Concordia collegiate esports initiative includes a NACE-certified team and have filled out a 13-seat playing arena on their campus.
This school is a Division III school, so it’s a bit on the smaller side. It’s nice to see esports gaining traction in more schools, but according to sportsvideo.org, this was not an easy task. It’s incredibly difficult to start and keep an athletic system, especially for liberal-arts schools.
Many sports-minded players want to go to the more significant colleges, that are established and known for their sports programs.
Marc Valdoria, coordinator and coach of CTX Esports spoke out about how they decided to try esports:
“All of the other sports that we thought of were going to be too expensive and cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars. [Esports] was just thrown onto the table since we needed to add another program to entice more students to come here and drive enrollment. When esports was brought up, the administration asked us how much it was going to cost, and [the price] was definitely less than what we had [as our budget].”
Though Valdoria didn’t believe esports would come to Concordia, it seems to be moving in that direction. The arena was built from January to July of 2019, and on July 30th, it opened to the public and their players alike.
Unlike other institutions, the esports department isn’t its entity to itself. Marc called it a “grassroots movement,” where everyone took part. Anytime you start something new; you want it to be successful. At least, that’s how I think.
It seems like Concordia’s taken a smart approach to this esports development. They spent time going to other schools that were developing esports systems, perhaps to get advice or inspiration.
National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE)
Concordia is in its second season of this program as of this writing. Their esports team competing at the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) is a big deal. NACE is one of the major independent esports conferences in America.
It isn’t some small-time movement with maybe 50 schools to battle against. Nearly 300 East Coast schools and more than 150 West Coast schools play in Rocket League, just as an example. It’s not only Rocket League, either. League of Legends, Overwatch, PUBG, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate are on the docket.
They have five teams and 40 students, and to keep up with the sheer weight of the competitions available, they have 12 gaming stations. Oh, and a 13th for Coach Valdoria, that’s important too.
Esports has the same issues in school as traditional sports do though, according to Valdoria:
“It was quite difficult our first year. I was able to schedule classes only for the incoming freshmen, so we had to play around the schedules of the current students since they were already set for the semester. During the first season, the practices, for the most part, were in the late afternoon or the evening, and the latest we would go was about 9:00 or 10:00. It’s an issue that we’re trying to see if we can work with this season. If they’re Overwatch players, I’ll tell them that I want them to be out of class by 3:00 so we can start practice. Now they’ll know not to take any classes [at that time].”
The Growth of Esports
I’m so glad to see more schools getting involved in esports. To see a college push and work together to make this succeed genuinely makes me smile. When I was in college (again) just a few years ago, we considered esports.
However, my college treated their esports players like an unwanted orphan. There was no budget for them. The higher-ups didn’t believe in it, so all we got were toxic, annoying League of Legends players. While my experience with it was unfortunate, the times are changing.
Now that the Concordia collegiate esports initiative includes an esports arena and teams, it will be easier than ever to recruit players. Now when he’s trying to recruit students for the esports teams, he can tell them there’s somewhere to practice. They have the support of the university, and that’s of the utmost importance.
All in all, it may start slow, but as I always say, esports is not an immediate paycheck. It is going to take work and struggle but they can do it. I’m proud to see more schools treat esports as something positive for the growth of their school.
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