When you think of sports, what most likely comes to mind are soccer, basketball, hockey, football, tennis, and maybe even dance. At Kingswood Oxford there is a new sport on the block, but the question is: Should it actually be considered a sport?
This year, French teacher and Head Coach of Esports Ryan Broduer has added esports to the list of fall activities, and students have a lot to say about whether it should be considered a sport like the other typical athletic offerings.
After school, all KO students are required to participate in an activity for all three seasons: fall, winter and spring. However, there is some flexibility within this requirement, especially for upperclassmen, who can take one season off if involved in two team sports as a recovery season. But in addition to athletic offerings, other after-school activities can fulfill the requirements. These activities include robotics, strength & conditioning, the fall play, the winter musical, yoga, Wyverns Helping Wyverns, and musicianship.
Another option is to join KO’s new esports team, which practices five days a week during the fall season with games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The three games the team plays are “League of Legends,” “Splatoon 2,” and “Rocket League,” and they compete against various schools across the country. About three times a week, the team does either a workout or some sort of physical activity, such as a full body workout, yoga, or an intense game of frisbee. However, is that all really enough for esports to be considered a sport?
I ventured out into the KO community to gather what students really thought about esports. Through conversations and awkward moments when students were hesitant to reveal their actual opinions, I managed to get a pretty good idea of the community’s general thoughts.
I first spoke to freshman Jenna Kanaan, who plays three sports at KO, along with playing on a travel basketball team.“I think esports should not be a sport,” she said. “It just does not require enough physical activity and seems like an easy way out to fill a sports requirement.” That being said, I do believe esports should be in the KO community as a club.”
Jenna was not the only one who thought this, and it seems as though what she had to say sums up the general consensus of most students. However, freshman Maya Gerrits thinks otherwise. “Esports should not be a club or a sport, but rather something you do on the weekends or after you get home from school,” she said, “because it is essentially just playing video games after school.”
What most people don’t realize, however, is that the esports team is pretty competitive. They are ranked 32 out of 109 teams in the Eastern region for “League or Legends,” and 28 out of 146 teams for “Rocket League.” The team competes against other local and out-of-state teams, from Hall High School located right here in West Hartford to Fuqua School all the way in Virginia.
When talking to Mr. Brodeur, he said something that could change the way many people in the KO community think about sports. “If a sport is simply high levels of physical activity, then yeah, I mean, esports isn’t going to meet that bar,” he said. “But if sports are about teamwork, competition, cooperation, collaboration, strategy, and studying past performance with the hope of improving on your future, [esports is] just like any other team in that regard.”
Teamwork is indeed very important to Mr. Brodeur, as when you walk into the Esports room, a big poster immediately draws your attention. The poster states the norms that the team has to follow: “I will put my best effort forward, I will be mindful of other people, and I will keep the room clean.”
Mr. Brodeur’s message of teamwork has made an impression on many. “The team gets along very well and that is important because we all need to work together to win,” junior Johnny Kung, a member of the esports team. Johnny mainly plays “League of Legends,” a game in which teamwork is crucial. All three players involved in the game need to work together to overcome the defense of the other team. To win the game, they ultimately have to destroy their opponent’s base.
When I myself stepped into the esports room during one of their practices, what immediately caught my eye was the wall filled with posters of the games the team plays, as well as the shiny black computers lining the wall with students working together in front of them. I immediately tell what Mr. Broduer and Johnny said was true: The team morale was great, everyone was joking with one another, and it felt like a good, positive, and energetic space to be in.
While esports may not require much physical activity, the positive team chemistry is not something that you could say about all other KO sports teams. For these reasons, I encourage all KO students who were skeptical about the “athletic” merit of the esports team to have an open mind and view sports more as an outlet of teamwork, camaraderie, and hard work, above all else.
