Springdale Preparatory School in New Windsor has added a new sports team to its sports program this school year. It requires five players, quick decision-making, and a fondness for video games.
The new video game team, or esports program, is not traditional, at least in this country. But Springdale staff consider him as valuable as any sports team.
Springdale music teacher Ben Kohn is also the head coach of the esports team. It was just a need for a virtual activity at first, but it’s become a great way to get kids involved in extracurricular activities.
It’s relatively unknown, he said, but the industry is huge.
E-sports are video games, often multiplayer, in which players can compete against each other like “Call of Duty” and “Fortnite”. The Springdale Prep team plays League of Legends. The object of the game is to destroy the other team’s base while facing a ton of obstacles like other players, towers, and minions. It is played and watched by people all over the world.
A CNBC story indicates that the 2018 League of Legends World Championship in South Korea garnered 100 million unique viewers online. That year’s Super Bowl had only 98 million viewers.
Although not a traditional sports team, it is part of the school’s athletic program and team members are held to the same standards as the rest of the school’s student-athletes. They can’t fall behind in their studies, grades have to be decent, and students have to get tutoring if they need it.
The team has already entered its first tournament, hosted by PlayVs, and placed 80th out of 250 teams, which is “nothing to scoff at,” said assistant coach Luke Parr. He added that they were playing against kids who have been playing for much longer.
Kohn said the skills students learn through play can be translated into the classroom. It teaches them communication, teamwork and critical thinking. Parr added that students also learn time management skills.
“A lot of kids started to improve dramatically,” Kohn said of the students’ performance.
Springdale Prep students, left to right, Nick Wolfe, Ilyas Mushi and Elijah Odukomaiya play ‘League of Legends’, as part of the esports program at Springdale Preparatory School in New Windsor on Friday, April 24, 2021 (Credit (Dylan Slagle/Carroll County Times)
Lorraine Fulton, the school’s vice principal, said their social skills have also improved.
Few high schools, none in Carroll, have a video game team as part of their sports program, but coaches said it’s becoming more common.
“And it’s going to take off like a rocket,” Kohn said. “It’s a big problem in every part of the world.”
Like traditional sports, video games allow children to become professionals and earn money. Colleges offer athletic scholarships to players.
League of Legends requires a team of five, which is exactly the number of students on the Springdale team. They practice four days a week, sometimes five, starting at 3:30 p.m. at 6 p.m. They practice the game itself but also work on strategy ideas. Three of the team members were training Friday while wearing the burgundy and gold Under Armor jerseys with their surnames printed on the back.
One of the players was Ilyas Mushi, a freshman. He didn’t know League of Legends until a year ago when he saw his friend playing it. He then discovered the esports program at school and joined the team.
“I was pretty bad at first,” he said, adding that he was often dead and had no casualties.
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He quickly improved, as did his confidence. He said he was better at decision-making and didn’t hesitate as much.
Team member Elijah Odukomaiya, a junior, said he had been playing for a few years after discovering him in 2018. He was a virtual student until a few months ago and tried to play with his teammates while in Nigeria. The six-hour jet lag made it difficult. There was also a two-split-second delay, Parr said.
Nick Wolfe, another player on the team, joined him because he needed an after-school activity.
“I guess I wanted to try something new,” added the sophomore.
Said Parr: “Nick dedicated himself to the game. He made tremendous strides in learning as much as he could about the game.”
The group did not make the playoffs this year and reached the end of the competitive season. Fulton said they were just preparing for next year.
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