Students are all too familiar with eLearning, but it’s time to UPDATE their knowledge on eSports!

Football, soccer, volleyball, and basketball are sports that almost everybody has most likely tried to play at some point in time. However, eSports is something many have never experienced–and maybe not even heard of. It is like any other sports, complete with training, tournaments, and skill development, but the catch is they play video games. 

This electronical sport has found itself attracting many people nowadays as technologies further advance. There are even tournaments in places like California that gather a football stadium full of people. With everyone having a phone they carry everywhere and a computer in most homes, it is no surprise a sport like this has come into existence. 

In eSports, just like any other sport, it takes skill; players must be committed to their team. “Strategy” is also a very huge component, just as it is in any sport…like football or soccer. Dominic Muncie, a junior at Elkhart-East, is a eSports player. “I got into eSports around the start of my sophomore year–through a friend of mine who had told me about it,” he recalls. “They have one of my favorite games, so I thought, Why not join?.” It’s never too late to join something like eSports, Muncie notes,  if the person really wants to join, especially if someone finds he or she has the talent for it. 

With a sport where teammates sit to play a game, coaches often insist on keeping all the body parts that aren’t seemingly active in shape. This is very much the case for Muncie’s coach. “A normal day in practice–before COVID–would start in the weight room,” he explains. “Our coach liked putting emphasis on working out while also enjoying these games.” 

Just as with any other sport that high school athletes participate in, the players need to make sure to keep their grades up. Muncie talks about this: “Anyone who had grades lower than a C- would have to stay in the hallway and do 50 squats and push-ups to be allowed into the room–and they did that every day until the grades were better.” 

At the end of all this strenuous practicing, keeping their grades in check, and keeping the body in check, Muncie and his team get to show off their hard-earned talent. “We do a tournament annually called Game Head Fest–we actually host it.” Muncie adds, “It is a collection of a few different games coming together and competing amongst many teams in Indiana.”

Muncie wants people to know that it really isn’t as easy as others try to make it out to be. “There are many people who think what we do is very easy and just lazy,” he acknowledges. “But, I encourage them to come join to see what it’s all about so that this stereotypical idea of our sport can be erased–because many people don’t have the mental strength and will to actually commit to this.”

Hopefully, some out there will have a mind to take Muncie up on his challenge.