Scholastic esports is inclusive
Article co-authored by Connor Alne & Bubba Gaeddert.
While the main function of a middle school or high school is education, we all know it is what goes on outside of the classroom that makes you who you are, and ultimately shapes your school experience. When you get into middle school or high school the one thing everyone has in common is that they are looking for acceptance. You are becoming an adult and trying to figure out who you are. The overwhelming conclusion in high school is that if you want to fit in or have a good time, you need to be an athlete.
In fact, high schools are designed to put athletes on a pedestal and make everyone else look up to them. Don’t believe me? What is homecoming? Homecoming is a town celebration revolving around the football team. Players are paraded around and made to feel like the most important people in town. Anytime an athletic team made state or playoffs, I bet your school threw a pep rally - where the school got together to cheer on that team. But here is the problem. What if you aren’t an athlete? What if those sports don’t appeal to you? What if you don’t want to risk getting injured?
Chances are if you didn’t fit into the athletic structure, you didn’t have that powerful of an experience in middle or high school. Luckily, some of those kids found band or choir and were able to get that shared experience and sense of belonging by being part of those groups. That still leaves a majority of students who don’t get to ever achieve that sense of belonging in middle or high school, or no what it’s like to be on a team, and it’s heartbreaking. To make it even worse, a lot of those kids go home to do the same activity - they play video games.
Video games are where they find their belonging. They can use them to make friends all across the country, play with friends who maybe had to move away, or to further connect with some of their classmates. In fact, there was a recent story about how a group of kids playing Fortnite together threw an online birthday party for a kid they had never met in real life. They didn’t want him to be alone on his birthday due to the coronavirus shutdown.
The sense of belonging video games can provide is life-changing, and it becomes even more amazing when you consider the fact that everyone can play video games. Video games are inclusive to all. You do not have to be genetically gifted and there are no physical restraints when it comes to gaming. This means that kids who are disabled or injured can all play, and get to experience what it is like to be on a team for the first time because of what we call esports. That is why school esports is so important. It is the only sport a school can offer that has no restrictions on who can join, play, and compete. It allows for a community that is inclusive to all and that everyone feels welcome.
Research done by the Esports Education Network (EEN) shows that 82% of students surveyed participating in the free Gaming Concepts curriculum say they have never participated in any other extracurricular activity. That is a huge benefit for not only the students but the school, as they are able to reach a group of students that were previously being ignored. What principal wouldn’t want to engage and build a sense of belonging for all students in their school? Even with that powerful statistic, though, you are going to hear some pushback that while more students are being engaged, encouraging video gameplay could harm their academic performance.
What the EEN found, though, is the complete opposite. When students have a sense of belonging and a team that is counting on them, it gives them purpose. These kids are already playing video games, the difference is that they are going home and isolating themselves, and can oftentimes use this as an escape. In fact, according to the PEW Research Center, 97% of teens ages 12-17 are playing video games. When they join an esports program, we pull them out of the basement and back into a classroom with students of the same interests and a topic these students actually care about. When an esports club is paired with some amount of academic offering involving gaming such as Gaming Concepts, GPA amongst those students was observed and the result was an average increase in GPA of 1.7, additionally, a rise in attendance of 10%.
The world’s only comprehensive textbook for gaming and esports, and is the only curriculum for esports on Microsoft Educator, that has been downloaded over 100,000 times in 40 different countries can provide belonging for a school struggling to meet kids where they are. Developed by Dr. Kristy Custer and Mr. Michael Russell, partnered educators, Gaming Concepts teaches college- and career-ready skills and social-emotional learning -- all through the lens of video games and Esports! By harnessing students’ passion for games and bringing it into the classroom, Gaming Concepts improves academic performance, inclusion, and attendance, all while equipping high school students with the life skills they’ll need to ace college and beyond.
What groups are out there providing support for schools and students in the scholastic esports space? The High School Esports League (HSEL) is the largest and longest-running competitive esports league for high schools in the world. HSEL helped create more than 5,000 school esports clubs and has had over 100,000 students access their platform to play competitively in the last seven years. HSEL makes esports available to every student as a legitimate varsity-level sport in high schools across North America. They achieve this by making it easy for faculty to offer students an opportunity to engage in healthy esports competition, surrounded by peers, and supervised by teachers. Through organized esports competitions students will tie their commitment to gaming to their success in academics and future careers. They were the first esports organization to become STEM accredited and partnered with the creators of the Gaming Concepts curriculum to get the textbook out to as many schools as possible. HSEL is managed and operated by Generation Esports, and has announced for the Fall 2020 semester to launch the Middle School Esports League (MSEL).
Another organization that partnered with the authors of Gaming Concepts and with HSEL, is the second-ever STEM-accredited esports organization, and the first non-profit of its kind. The Varsity Esports Foundation (VEF) was established to offer financial assistance to schools and to provide a pipeline for students to reach their potential through esports. The VEF strives to increase literacy around the esports industry’s positive impact on healthy lifestyles, mental health, community, and STEM. They also earned a 2020 Gold Seal of Transparency from the national premier non-profit database called Guidestar.
Diversity and Inclusion is a primary initiative of the VEF, which supports disenfranchised students in low-income urban areas with access to college scholarships. The VEF provides grants to title 1 schools with students on free and reduced lunch to provide STEM education and curriculum to break down barriers through Esports. VEF will give these students access to the internet, devices, grants, scholarships, and STEM education to prepare them for college and careers. At least 50% of students in the US fall in the category of high-poverty or mid-high poverty. Schools can apply for financial assistance year-round to support their schools.
About the co-authors:
Coach Connor Alne has been involved in the esports industry for over 9 years now. He started as a competitive Call of Duty player. In 2015 he made the switch to hosting events. Then he opened up a training facility in Iowa City for esports to help develop teams, players, and tournaments in the area. Then in February, 2019 Connor was tasked with starting the esports program at Ottawa University. He then became the Development Director at the Varsity Esports Foundation and in 2020 started with Generation Esports / High School Esports League as the Director of Content, and before he left in 2022 was the HSEL Commissioner. He is now an influencer full-time on social media, as well as an author, and esports expert.
Bubba Gaeddert is a professional broadcaster, host, consultant, entrepreneur, content creator, and veteran event manager. His main focus is on gaming, esports, education, and technology. He has worked in radio, television, live streaming and is the founder of the Jolumi Media firm (Joe-lou-me), where he consults for multiple esports, gaming, sports, tech, and education companies. He has been a gamer and self-proclaimed NERD ever since he was a kid when his dad managed Radio Shacks in Oklahoma. Bubba has been an adjunct professor in higher-ed since 2013, and worked in the non-profit and traditional sports industry for over 21 years with the YMCA, NCAA, NAIA, Parks and Recs, Sports Commissions, and the Chamber of Commerce. In 2018, he helped create the non-profit 501(c)3 charity the Varsity Esports Foundation (VEF), and a year later took the reigns as the Executive Director.
