Feature: Esports team fights for club sport status

The fastest-growing and nearly the highest-earning sport worldwide is still not considered a sport by many. 

The esports market has exploded over the past several years and the industry is expected to reach more than $1 billion in revenue in 2019. More esports leagues have been created in the past two years than were created in the previous five years.

The Liberty University esports team is working hard to make a name for itself in this market, both in competition and around the university.

The esports team, which was founded along with Liberty’s gaming club in the fall of 2017, has seen incredible growth since its inception. The team began with five “Dota 2” players and has since grown to over 100 students competing in more than 11 different games. Those games include four of the biggest games in the industry right now: “Overwatch,” “Call of Duty,” “League of Legends” and “Super Smash Bros.”

According to team co-founder and Esports Program Director Jacen Garriss, student awareness has created much of the team’s growth.

“There’s been a massive amount of growth using Discord, and we run the esports Twitter, which is now at over 500 followers,” Garriss said. “So we’ve seen a lot of community support and growth around the whole Liberty esports brand.”

The esports team has also grown from competing in just a few tournaments a year to competing nearly weekly in a variety of tournaments for each of the games represented. The team has also shifted from almost exclusively online tournaments to competing at in-person tournaments as well.

“Overwatch” Team Manager James Valentino said the team has made huge competitive leaps since he joined in fall 2017.

“Our first year with Liberty esports, the majority of our tournaments were completely online and playing other colleges online,” Valentino said. “And then last year, our ‘Call of Duty’ teams went to multiple in-house tournaments, (and) our ‘Rainbow Six Siege’ and ‘Overwatch’ teams went to Volan, which was hosted by University Tennessee Knoxville. Just over a year later, we’re now actually traveling and competing at these locations. That’s a big jump from playing in your own apartment or your dorm to your whole team playing on one table together.”

Right now, the team’s primary challenge is earning recognition as a club sport by the university. Earning club sport recognition would help the esports team with funding, facilities and the ability to travel for competitions.

Another challenge the team faces is overcoming stereotypes. 

When many people think of a gamer, especially a competitive gamer, they often imagine someone who is overweight, lazy, antisocial, drinks Monster Energy and consumes an excessive amount of pizza. Yet the people present in an esports and gaming club meeting are none of the above.

Members of the esports team are required to attend at least one practice a week for the game they want to compete in, which can be in-person or online. The practices consist of scrimmages, sometimes against other collegiate teams, as well as strategy sessions and skill-building.

Valentino said the gaming community is made up of people of all different backgrounds and personalities.

“A misconception that a lot of people have in video games in general is that these people are lazy, they just want to sit in their room and not socialize with anyone, and that’s not true at all,” Valentino said. “Video games in a way act the same as social media where people are more connected than ever before. When it comes to esports, we’re not lazy. A lot of our players put in over 10 to 15 hours of practice just to compete in these games. People are committed and it’s not just for fun – it’s to help represent the school to the best of our ability.”

Garriss said the same – nearly three-quarters of people in the 15-24 age bracket is a gamer in some way, shape or form. Pew Internet reported that 72% of teenagers played some form of video game in 2015, and the number has only grown from there. Gamers are not recluses – they’re normal people and make up most of today’s youth.

“Gaming is super easy to get into,” Garriss said. “Even in this day and age, if you go into a classroom of college-age or high school-age students and ask how many of them play video games – anything from mobile games on their phones to consoles to hardcore PC players – on average, 90% will say they play something like that weekly. It’s something that can appeal to a massive amount of people.”

The esports team also actively encourages its members to hang out with their friends and teammates and to compete with them. Trevor Ray, the team’s “Dota 2” manager, said he made some of his closest friends through the esports team.

“We wouldn’t be where we are if we didn’t enjoy the competitions ourselves,” Ray said. “For some of us, it’s the friends and the community they’ve built around the games. I’ve roomed with three of my previous or current teammates. Once you have that friendship going, it makes it worth it. If you have a bad day, you don’t want to quit, you want to keep going for your friends.”

For right now, the team is focusing on its biggest upcoming events. The first of these is a tournament in early November, followed by the team’s annual “Extra Life” 24-hour gaming marathon event to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network.