It’s early August. Soon, high school sports teams start pre-season practice. The fall season is just a few weeks away.
At Weston High, that means cross country, field hockey, football, soccer, swim and dive, and volleyball.
Plus e-sports.
Don’t laugh. Don’t make snide remarks about “sitting in front of a computer playing video games.” Don’t show your ignorance.
E-sports is a billion-dollar business. Nearly 200 colleges offer $10 million in scholarships to players.
Weston — which includes e-sports as a varsity sport — is a leader in Connecticut. And Connecticut is a leading state, nationally.
Dan Ungar is the Trojans’ coach. It’s one of his many jobs in Weston — he’s also a special education paraprofessional, and runs an after-school fitness program — and his passion for it is clear.
Dan Ungar was featured on the PlayVS e-sports website.
He’s quick to note that e-sports — aka “online gaming competition” — really is a sport.
It involves teamwork. It demands communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving and leadership.
The action moves fast. Situations change rapidly. Teammates must be laser-focused.
And they’re in it to win it.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) oversees all high school sports in the state. They were the first state organization in the US to sanction e-sports, back in 2018.
Five years later, the National Federation of High School Associations — the official US oversight body — has e-sports partnerships with nearly 2 dozen states.
Games include League of Legends, Rocket League and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. One season runs from fall through December. A second one is January through the end of April.
Weston High School Trojans
Ungar is a full varsity coach. He goes to the same meetings, and is held to the same standards, as any basketball or lacrosse coach. He has “the full backing” of school administrators.
Athletic director Mark Berkowitz often asks, “What do you need?” Ungar says.
(Other resources come from PlayVS, the official CIAC and NFHS e-sports platform partner.)
E-sports players are, in many ways, treated equally too. Flyers show upcoming matches; results are announced on the morning TV show; the team has a dinner, and gives awards.
There are differences, of course. Instead of crowded bleachers at fields or the gym, only a few spectators fit in the computer lab, where competitions are held.
Though meets are virtual, the state championship is live, at Quinnipiac University’s modern e-sports arena.
“That was like playing with the pros,” Ungar says. “It was so exciting. The kids deserved that atmosphere. They represent our school, and are proud of it. They work hard.”
Their hard work pays off. Both captains who graduated this June earned e-sports scholarships — one to Clark University, the other to Clarkson.
Ungar — who was one of the first 8 e-sports coaches in the country, when he started 6 years ago — has a roster of about 20 players. (Some schools in the state have up to 60.)
They represent “every type of kid imaginable,” the coach says.
“We’ve got both genders, and non-binary. They’re difference races. But they’ve become a team, and a family.”
Like any varsity coach, Ungar balances the demands of the present with the need to build for the future. This year, he’s excited to welcome a talented crop of incoming 9th graders.
“The sky’s the limit,” he says — referring both to the Weston team, and the future of e-sports.
ESPN airs competitions. They sell out Madison Square Garden.
Ungar’s e-sports players dream of being engineers, computer and software programmers and game designers.
One may even become a professional e-sports player.
Hey, any varsity athlete can dream…
I am not against the e-sports participants getting varsity letters or their being recognized as a varsity squad. (Nor am I opposed to their faculty advisor being recognized officially as a coach.)
But perhaps shouldn’t the same status be given to the debate club, the chess club, the math club, the We the People participants? They too are representing their schools in competitions.
Also, is there any difference between the amount of money paid to a varsity coach vs that paid to a club faculty advisor?
Thanks.
I don’t know where it belongs but to put this “activity” in the same category, even parenthetically, with varsity athletics is like equating Trump or Biden with Washington or Lincoln. It’s like expecting Mensa membership approval because you incorporated ChatGPT to complete your doctoral thesis.