ESports comes to Virginia.

By Anonymous -

This past June (2019) as a part of an Educational Leadership class, I read an interesting article about how colleges are handing out scholarships to students to participate in their ESports programs. According to Scholarships.com, more than 30 U.S. colleges and universities are offering substantial scholarships for gamers. As a result, I believed that if I could provide a new avenue at my high school for an under-served population, I should give it my best to start an ESports program.

ESports Benefits

  1. Sense of Community
  2.  Character Development
  3. Scholarship Opportunities
  4. Embodies ISTE Standards
  5. Increase Achievement
  6. STEM Engagement

I did some research and found two high school gaming platforms: the ESports High School League (EHSL) and Play Versus (PlayVS). I also found out that my state had just approved ESports as an official "activity" through the Virginia High School League (VHSL) and they were using PlayVS as a supported platform. I created an account on PlayVS and downloaded all the specs on how to get the PlayVS platform on school computers. Then, I put together a proposal for my principal in late June to start a program. The proposal and specs for PlayVS were sent to the technology supervisor in the district to see the viability of the infrastructure and needs of the program. As a sidebar, each student gamer would be responsible for a $64 entry fee to join PlayVS. We were blessed to receive the entry fees for seven students from our principal to help us in our inaugural season. See the links at the end of this blog to help get started with your own ESports program.
  • At this point, if you are interested in getting a program together, I would highly suggest you start with the PlayVS specs and checking your infrastructure with the IT (technology) department. This was the most challenging part of the process for a variety of reasons. Thankfully, the IT department was successful in clearing all the hurdles to create a space for a gaming platform. 
  • PlayVS currently offers three games: SMITE, Rocket League, and League of Legends. We currently can play League of Legends. The other games required larger graphics cards that we could not acquire. 


When school started, I had an interest meeting and 20 students showed up! Many of them were gamers and just wanted to know what games we were going to play and what the format was going to be. Once I explained the format and game, I had 11 that decided to tryout. We ran the PlayVS recommended tryout system which had its own scoring rubric (nice)! A League of Legends team consists of five players. Therefore, we kept 5 players and 2 alternates. We are thankful for our 21st-century after school program which are able to provide gamer headsets and bus ride home for students who participate.


So, here I am in mid-October as a League of Legends ESports Coach getting ready for our Staunton River Eagles first pre-season game tomorrow! I am super excited to see what lies ahead for the team. 

 Update: 10/22/2019
We learned a lot from playing a great team from Stafford, VA who had a League of Legends club for about 4 years. We lost 2-0. But, I am very proud of the members of the team. We had some great conversations after that match and I think the kids have a better understanding of what to expect and how to prepare for future matches. Check back!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Technology March Madness

By Anonymous -
Every year, March Madness is upon us. Basketball fans everywhere rejoice as every copier in America is struggling to print millions of copies of the NCAA Bracket. Although I appreciate the enthusiasm fans bring to the tournament season, I am not a big basketball fan. Therefore, I started a Technology Final Four bracket a few years ago that coincides with March Madness. I saw a similar bracket in a post a few years ago and I would love to give kudos to the technology person. But, for the life of me, I cannot remember who it is. If you know, write the person's name under the comment section below so I can give that person the credit they deserve!  Here's how it works: I send out a Google sheet with the bracket of technology apps and websites I believe would be of interest to teachers. This year, some of my teammates used Google extensions for "teams". Each App is hyperlinked to the website of that product. The teacher decides which product is better and moves that n
Read more

Differentiated Instruction (& Tiered Instruction)

By Anonymous -
Image
The Bedford County Public Schools Instructional Technology Coaches created a Mini Vodcast and set of resources on Differentiation. Today's blog is a quick summary of those resources and the vodcast. A future blog and mini vodcast will focus on Tiering. Check out the (Mini) #Vodcast on Differentiation (Part 1) on YouTube: https://bit.ly/36crHkR Differentiation is basically tailoring instruction to meet each student’s individual needs regardless of their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. At the core of Differentiated Instruction is the modification of four elements Content (what students learn),  Process (how do students make sense of the information and ideas),  Product (how they show what they’ve learned) and Learning environment/Affect (the climate or tone in the classroom). This modification is based on an assessment of student differences in readiness, interest, and learning profile. Pros & Cons of Differentiated Instruction Pros Research shows differentiated instructio
Read more

Google Summit Edtech Takeaways

By Anonymous -
Image
I presented at my first EdTech Google Summit on March 11th and 12th and this is what I learned from it. So, I found out 3 days prior to the conference that I was bumped from Day 2, Session 7 to Day 1, Session 1 due to a presenter's unfortunate ill-timed relationship with a stomach virus. Holy crap! (no pun intended) ~ I would be the first presenter that many people would see. I am the introduction of what this conference means for people.  I was the WalMart greeter of the Google Summit and I was super pumped and nervous. I remember when I went to my first summit and the feeling of the unknown. I practically worshiped those presenters/ rock stars. Ok, so I might be a closet groupie. The idea behind it is, I want to provide a high-quality experience to those who are new.  I hold Google Summits to a high standard and I want to live up to that standard. After a fantastic keynote by  +Molly Schroeder  Bennett ( @followmolly ), everyone was dismissed to Session 1. The room
Read more