High School Esports Club Development Program
Esports programs are rapidly being adopted in colleges and secondary schools across the country. The Long Island Gmaing League High School Esports Development Program was created to help our students excel in life and esports.
Introduction
Video games are an increasingly popular form of entertainment. Based on statistics from the Business of Apps, there were 78.3 million active players of Fortnite in August 2018. To add perspective, that is more than the population of any one U.S. state and more than the population of France. According to Superdata (USA Today), 258 million unique viewers worldwide watched esports last year. Amidst the rising popularity of Fortnite, We realized the time is right to introduce our gaming club development program to High School through out Long Island, NY and the Tri-State area.
What is esports?
At its core, esports is a form of competitive video game playing. Much like traditional sports, esports can be played either on a team (Overwatch, League of Legends) or as an individual (Hearthstone, Super Smash Brothers). Think of it as football compared to tennis. Though esports can be played remotely against opponents, esports events can be viewed live with teams playing against each other in arenas or auditoriums. These live events are popular and are known to sell out arenas like the Barkley Center in Brooklyn, NY.
Why do esports in school?
Esports can encourage students’ interest in STEM fields, provide potential college scholarships, and foster a sense of belonging for more students within the school community.
Esports offer a unique pathway to encourage interest in STEM fields such as programming, graphic design, networking, and video game design. Research suggests that gamer students are primed to pursue STEM in college and careers. Other fields in esports include marketing, broadcasting (streaming/shoutcasting), economics, and coaching. Essentially, if there is a complementary field in traditional sports, there is a comparable one in esports.
High schools should be considering esports programs because colleges and universities are offering esports scholarships. Currently there are over 200 affiliated colleges and universities. Many of these colleges are now offering esports scholarships to qualified applicants. As a result, high schools across the US are now considering esports programs of their own.
Even though esports is one of the most popular forms of entertainment amongst youth, there is often no place to share their enthusiasm for esports within the school community. Schools that adopt our esports program can reach those students who may feel they don’t have a place within their school to be with their friends and share their passions. Some students find their place in the drama club or music program, others in traditional sports. Students who feel a connection to school and are involved in extracurricular activities are more likely to stay in school and graduate.
To Learn More About Our High School Esports Development Program Implementation: (Email us at office@thelongislandgamingleague.com or Call 631-615-1707) Something for the parents to learn more click here
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