Electronic Sports, also called “esports”, is a growing sport in Virginia and across the nation. Colleges and universities are sponsoring esports teams, and also offering degrees in esports due to the growth of the sport as an industry. Culpeper County High School (CCHS) has a VHSL Esports team that is coached by Culpeper Middle School (CMS) ITRT Tim McGuire. Last year, McGuire also started an esports club at CMS. To accommodate this growing program, McGuire spearheaded an effort to create an esports “arena” at CMS that would serve both schools and better meet the needs of their esports programs.
Creating the esports arena at CMS was only possible due to a combined effort from many departments throughout CCPS including maintenance, technology, instruction, and school administration. The maintenance department constructed a partial wall to separate the space that included a lockable door and plexiglass partitions. Maintenance also ran electrical outlets to areas around the wall and painted the entire room to make it look amazing.
CCPS Technology ran ethernet drops and conduits around the room which allowed the PCs and Nintendo Switches to be hardwired to the network for peak performance in competitions. The CCHS Athletic Department purchased gaming PCs keyboards, controllers, and headsets. Then, the technology department hand built the PCs.
CMS Principal Jesse Blackburn worked to secure funding to purchase additional equipment and furnish the entire “arena” space with couches, chairs, and tables as well as three 65-inch flat panel TVs on carts that the students use to play and compete on various Nintendo Switch games. Last year, Nintendo Switches and controllers were purchased for the CMS esports club through the CCPS Club program that is funded by the ESSER III Set Asides Before and After School grant.
Since the space was a joint project to benefit both CMS and CCHS, McGuire enlisted Barbara Hibbard’s graphic design class at CCHS to create a new esports logo that incorporated the logos of both schools. With a little inspiration from Antony Rozwadowski, Dustin Coia, Kristopher Cochran, and a few others, the students were able to come up with a great new esports logo. Once the logo was complete, the CCHS sports marketing class created a massive “mug”, which is similar to a fat-head of the logo. McGuire said, “Mrs. Tanner’s sports marketing class was super quick in creating the product and it looks absolutely stunning hanging in the esports arena.”
The CCHS esports team competes every week, playing other VHSL schools in Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo Switches every Wednesday and Rocket League on the PCs every Thursday. The CMS esports club, coached by Mr. Luke Dulin, also meets twice a week playing Rocket League, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros. On Wednesdays, the CMS and CCHS students play together. “It has been amazing to watch the comradery between the two schools as they play each other in Super Smash Bros,” McGuire said.
McGuire and Dulin are hoping to grow the program in the future. They would like to compete at the middle school level starting in January through MSEL (Middle School Esports League) which matches schools that compete at similar times. Their hope is that through interest in the CMS esports club the esports team at CCHS will grow.
Esports is much more than just playing video games. It provides learning opportunities for students, it connects students to their school community, and creates opportunities to practice teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills. Participating in esports can also give students experience that may give them college scholarship opportunity and potentially shape their career choices.
In CCPS, Eastern View High School also has a VHSL esports team. In addition, A.G. Richardson Elementary School has started an after school esports club. The clubs at CMS and AGR are funded through the ESSER III Set Asides Before and After School grant.
To learn more about esports in Virginia, visit their page on the VHSL website at https://www.vhsl.org/esports/
