On a recent Thursday afternoon, members of Mt. Hope High School's newest sports team gathered at the Rogers Free Library for what was only the third match of their inaugural year. Team captains Jacob Perry and Brandon Nelson, both seniors, are there early, setting up the technology that allows them to compete against teams as far away as Florida and Toronto.

Electronic Sports (Esports) structures organized competitive gameplay between two teams. It’s relatively new to youth sports, recognized by the Rhode Island Interscholastic League for only about the last five years or so. It was while signing up for a more traditional sport — swimming — that Brandon saw Esports on the League’s site.

“I was looking to sign up for swim and saw that Esports was a thing,” Brandon said. “Jacob and I thought we should have that at Mt. Hope so we pitched it to Dr. DiBiase, but there were budget and equipment issues. Then at the beginning of senior year, Dr. DiBiase told us about the grant, so we went for it.”

The team exists today because of Jacob and Brandon’s initiative, with the help of a generous Rogers Free Library grant.

They noted on their grant application that Esports is a great way for students to meet people and build teamwork skills, as it opens up competitive play to more students. According to PlayVS, the service that facilitates the Esports framework, nearly half of Esport players were not in any other extracurricular activities throughout high school. More than 150 colleges and universities have Esports programs; local high schools that offer it include Classical, Tiverton High School, Mount Saint Charles Academy, East Greenwich High School, and Bishop Hendricken High School, among others.

In their request for about $9,000 in funding, much of which is start-up costs, Brandon and Jacob wrote, “Our goal for Esports is to get more students involved in an extracurricular team-building activity that they already love….Additionally, not all families can afford video game consoles and games. Providing access to the video games at the public library would give many teenagers access to gaming opportunities and a safe place for teenagers to hang out with their friends. It would help bridge the gap between teenagers of various socioeconomic backgrounds and the digital divide.”

“I tried to start an Esports team a few years ago,” said MHHS psychologist Margaret Correia, one of the team’s coaches. “I hit the same obstacles with technology and financing — I’m so glad the boys were able to figure it out.”

She admits her role is different than a traditional coach.

“Certainly the word ‘coach’ means something different. I’m more chaperoning and facilitating. I’m certainly not going to tell them how to play,” she said, adding that Esports have rapidly grown in popularity, with national and world championships and scholarship money available, just like with traditional sports. “It’s really fun and there’s a social element to it. It takes skill and talent and there’s a future in it.”

Game day, no jitters
Matches are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, at 4 p.m. local time, for all. On this day, at the library early along with Brandon and Jacob are sophomores Nadia Dian and Savannah Lariviere, longtime Rocket League fans who thought it would be fun to take something they already enjoy doing to another level of competition. They will be playing Rocket League today, along with a couple of other teammates, in a second-floor conference room at the library, against North Providence High School. Downstairs, using Nintendo Switches, a group of students including Brandon and Jacob will be playing Mario Kart.

Games the MHHS team competes in, in addition to the two being played today, include League of Legends, Splatoon, and Super Smash Bros. Students generally have a first choice game, but most are generalists, and play others as well.

They don't need time to stretch, although some of them do like to scrimmage before the actual match starts. It’s the setting up of the game space that stands in for a warm up — at least for the home team, which is what Mt. Hope is today. Jacob and Brandon spend the minutes leading up to (and after) the planned 4 p.m. start time trying to get their technology in order. It reveals another difference between eSports and traditional sports.

“Home team advantage is something you usually want,” said Jacob, while struggling to get a strong hotspot connection. “But with ESports it means you’re the one who has to set it up.”

There haven't been any injuries to date, in the traditional sense — although dropped connections and technical difficulties certainly stand effectively in for the occasional twisted ankle. The most dramatic example of that was in the team’s very first match, playing Mario Kart.

“It was the final race, we were up by 6 or 7 points and on the very last lap of the last race Brandon’s phone died,” said Jacob. “We lost the internet connection, and it sent Brandon and his partner back to the beginning and the other team won by 4 points.”

“That was a tough loss,” said Correia. But tough losses aside, the MHHS eSports team is staying loose, having fun, and leaving it all on the field. Nadia admitted she did get a touch nervous, but just for a moment, right before the first match. “Then I realized I was just playing,” she said. “Yes,” agreed Savannah, “that goes away, then it’s just fun.”