College E-sports scene is ready to boom. CBC is jumping in the game
A Tri-Cities college is looking to enter the world of competitive video gaming.
Columbia Basin College will launch its first E-sports team this fall and is currently searching for a full-time head coach to recruit and train student-athletes.
E-sports is the modern evolution of the arcade tournaments a gamer’s parents might have played when they were younger.
The position will require a mix of completion coach and E-sports responsibilities. As a completion coach, the responsibilities include academic advising, progress monitoring and helping at-risk students.
The responsibilities of the E-sports coach include coordinating competition and practice schedules, marketing and broadcasting.
Alex Thornton, CBC Student Recreation and Wellness director, said the hiring team is looking for someone with experience in marketing to spread the word about the new team, and broadcasting to help stream competitions.
E-sports teams
The inspiration for the E-sports team was driven by students active in the game club on campus. About six years ago, a group of students in the club starting competing unofficially in E-sports competitions through the club.
Thornton said this led to the school looking into a formal team on campus, especially since E-sports in the collegiate level is growing rapidly.
“A lot of schools are adding E-sports, especially over the last five, six years, and even more over the last couple of years with COVID, since it’s something that can be done remotely,” he said.
CBC found the perfect opportunity to start the team when the students voted to fund a new recreation center.
Originally, the school only had a fitness center with a weight room and cardio equipment, as well as their gym. The new rec center would allow a shared space for athletes and students, Thornton said.
The new rec center will have a space to hold games and school events, as well as an updated fitness center and new gyms.
“It will give us a lot more opportunities for students other than just E-sports,” Thornton said. “Things (like) intramurals and different types of programs.”
The space in the rec center dedicated to the E-sports team will allow players to compete with others all over Washington state and beyond. It will include multiple gaming stations and equipment needed to broadcast competitions.
The team will compete with teams in the Northwest Athletic Conference, which includes the community colleges in Washington and Oregon, as well as the National Junior College Athletic Association, which is a national organization for sports and E-sports including over 80 schools.
Thornton said the NJCAA was what drew the college toward an E-sports team because the players could easily compete against people across the country from the comfort of their own campus because the competitions are held remotely.
The goal is to compete against regional community colleges, but E-sports isn’t specific to a certain division like other sports are, so there is a chance the team could compete against schools outside of the Northwest Athletic Conference.
Some of the most popular tournaments include games such as League of Legends, Overwatch and Halo.
Recruiting players
Another goal is to mirror other sports in terms of scholarships and class requirements. Students will have access to scholarships, but will also need to be enrolled in a certain number of credits and will need to maintain a certain GPA each semester.
While Thornton does not know what the recruiting process will look like, he assumes the new coach will go to the on-campus game club first to scope out players.
The game club is unofficial and unorganized, so the structure of the team can be an incentive for players to join.
Thornton said while there is a space set aside for the E-sports team in the new rec center, it is still available to all students at CBC. There will be open recreational time for students to come in and use the space.
Not only was the E-sports program set up for a team, but it was also created so students could have that space to come and use the equipment if they wanted to.
“We wanted to make sure to give that opportunity, and that’s another way to spread the word about the program and maybe identify some potential recruits,” Thornton said.
The new coach must have a bachelor’s in education, student services or a related field from a college or university, as well as two years of experience in an educational setting providing direct support to students, experience with E-sports games.. The job pays about $60,800 to $69,800 a year.
The goal is to hire a coach by July.
