Each year, $2 billion dollars is given out in athletic scholarships to collegiate students. The fastest growing sport representing that money is now e-sports.
However, even as e-sports gain popularity and footing as a valid competition, many do not understand it.
Harvard University, which is an aggressive supporter of e-sports athletes, wrote, “Simply put, e-sports are video games that are played in a highly-organized competitive environment. These games can range from popular, team-oriented multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAS), to single-player first-person shooters, to survival battle royals, to virtual reconstructions of physical sports.”
Colleges at every level and public schools are working rapidly to develop their own e-sports programs. In fact, the Arrowhead Activity Center located in Elk City Ackley Park has a state-of the-art room designed to allow these athletes access to the best advancements to develop into world-class players in this sport of the future.
Elk City High School is among the schools who have implemented an e-sports program, and is already seeing smashing success.
Mentoring as he would any other sport, Coach Kaleb Murray helped superstar Joshua Gordon secure an e-sports scholarship to Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
“I couldn’t be more excited for my son,” said mother Jennifer Gordon. “Some people see this as ‘just playing video games,’ but it is so much more than that. They can get certificates in different programming, or other tech stuff that I don’t understand, simply from playing this sport in school and doing well. I am so proud that my kid is getting this chance to go to college through this, but he has also already gained things that can be put in his resume from playing. E-sports really offer an opportunity for these students.”
In his spare time, Joshua Gordon enjoys gaming, baseball, and drawing. He plans to major in engineering at SWOSU.
He is photographed with his mother Jennifer, sister Kaylah, and his ECHS and SWOSU coaches.
