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Collegiate esports can open doors to career opportunities

By Andrea Agardy

Esports is booming as gamers around the world form teams, get online and test their mettle. An increasing number of colleges are entering the competitive gaming arena by launching esports programs of their own.

Founded in 2016, the National Association of Collegiate Esports has more than 170 member schools, representing over 5,000 student-athletes. One of those schools is Texas A&M University-San Antonio, which started its varsity esports program last fall under the leadership of head coach Travis Yang. A&M-SA had 25 players during the spring 2021 semester. They competed in games like Overwatch, Call of Duty, Valorant, Rocket League, Hearthstone, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Madden NFL 21.

Recruiting

The way coaches build their teams depends on whether their schools classify esports under athletics or as a recreational sport.

“In athletics, there’s more of a focus on recruiting and competing and making sure you’re winning and growing as a team,” says Yang, who has coached under both classifications. “In rec sports, like here in San Antonio, the focus is more on providing programming for the student body. There’s less of an emphasis on bringing in new students to justify having a team.”

Many programs have online interest applications that prospective student-athletes can fill out and submit.

“If they stand out and are hitting specific criteria that we need, I’ll reach out to them,” Yang says.

As esports grows at the high school level, so do opportunities for coaches to scout prospects.

“If it’s more local, I’ll go and watch these teams compete in person,” Yang says. “In some of those cases, I’ll be more proactive and reach out to students I had a good impression of and be like, ‘Hey, you play this game, and we’re recruiting for it. I’d love to talk to you about it. Let’s set up a call.’”

If Yang hears encouraging information, he invites players for a tryout with the team. If that process goes well, a student is likely to receive an official offer.

Scholarships

Classification also factors into scholarships. Teams housed under athletics often have more scholarship money at their disposal, but that comes with higher expectations. Due to pandemic-related budgetary freezes, Yang hasn’t yet been able to offer scholarships in A&M-SA’s fledgling program, but that situation will soon change.

“We might be offering a $500 scholarship for a student, or really outstanding student athletes might be getting $1,000 or $2,000 a year,” he says.

A handful of schools, such as Harrisburg University in Pennsylvania, now offer full-ride scholarships to esports athletes.

“They’re one of the top three in the nation,” Yang says. “That’s a much higher level, more cutthroat environment, and their directive from the university is ‘Your goal is to win a national championship every year.’”

An Online Arena

Esports wouldn’t be possible on any level without high-speed internet connections. Even before the pandemic moved so much of life online, esports was thriving on the internet. As the coronavirus wreaked havoc on traditional sports, esports was able to continue relatively unscathed.

“In collegiate esports, 99% of it occurs online,” Yang says. “Your weekly matches are online. However, if you make a deep run in the postseason, some of the bigger organizers do host live finals where they’ll fly out that team. They’ll pay for everything to bring them somewhere like California, the East Coast, or Toronto.”

Esports is also largely an online experience for spectators. Fans watch competitions through live streams on platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming.

New Attitudes

While Yang occasionally encounters parents who still have a negative opinion about video games, attitudes about gaming are changing.

“I’ve had situations where parents were gamers themselves, and that’s how their kids got involved,” he says. “I think that’s a good thing, because someone who’s already played games will have that experience and be able to help guide their child in what to do and which games might be better than others.”

According to Yang, parents who are uneasy about gaming often find reassurance after learning about the benefits of esports. The same lessons parents hope their kids learn from Little League or soccer are present here, too. In fact, removing physicality from the equation opens those opportunities to more kids.

“The discipline, being able to dedicate yourself to something and the teamwork and respect, that all exists in esports — if you have coaches who know what they’re doing, they’re going to instill those same principles,” he says.

Career Paths

Just as very few college running backs end up going pro, most esports student-athletes aren’t going to make their living as players. But, that fact doesn’t mean all the time spent practicing and competing was for nothing.

“There are all the other avenues we see in traditional sports, like broadcasting, marketing, business management, and accounting,” Yang says. “Whether it’s basketball or Overwatch, each of these games has its own entire industry. That’s the beauty of collegiate esports. You have these students who are getting degrees, and they’re also getting experience so that if they wanted to get into that profession of esports, they’re well equipped to do so.”