photo by Bob DeHart ’95
York College
Athletics Let the Games Begin Esports begins competitive gaming season
photo by Steddon Sikes ’84
Esports, York College’s newest addition to Panther Athletics, began their inaugural season this fall competing in Overwatch, Rocket League and Super Smash Bros Ultimate through the National Association for Collegiate Esports. Rocket League competed in a 9-week season, Overwatch in a 6-week season, and Smash Bros competed through two different qualifying tournaments for Midwest schools. “The competition wasn’t easy, and we regularly faced Division I schools, the likes of San Diego State University, Colorado Tucker State University and University of Hawaii,” said esports head coach Collin Tucker (’15). “But I always tell the players that just like in life, it’s not always about winning, but it is always about learning. You can always learn something from those better than you, whether we win or lose. Growth should always be a priority.” This spring, the esports program will be competing in League of Legends, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Overwatch, and Hearthstone. “The nice thing about esports is that we can always add and adjust the games we compete in.” Coach Tucker said he had plans to add more games in the future, along the lines of Madden, FIFA, and Chess. Chess was one game with incredible
Esports' new facility springs to life as the team goes up against Western Michigan in the early evening matchup.
24 | Heritage | FALL 2021
York College takes on the University of Hawaii at Manoa in a mid-season Overwatch match.
involvement at the high school level in the 2020-21 school year. During the pandemic, the free chess platform chess.com had a record number of new users. Chess champions started streaming and teaching the game on Twitch and YouTube, and the Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit really generated new excitement about one of the world’s oldest games. “It’s a great opportunity to grow our program with a classic game that is now played online every day. Plus games like chess make it easier for my parents to explain what I do for a living,” joked Tucker.
GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES The majority of the games the students compete in are team based games that rely heavily on communication, strategy, trust, and incredible focus and reaction time. There are timing windows, objectives to be taken, and setups to be made in order for a team to succeed. “Most of the players know the game way better than I do, and I try to always create opportunities for them to learn from each other,” said Tucker. “In some ways, students have learned that they have the capability to teach, while others have realized that they don’t know how to learn or react to criticism. Again, it’s always about growth.” Tucker explained that video games are almost always under constant development, meaning that when an update comes out, the team has to change the strategies they just built the week before. Characters in-game have different skills, roles and positions in the game, and are on “tier lists.” He added, “A character you love to play may not be good anymore after an update, so you have to quickly learn a new character in order to stay on top of your game.” “As a coach I actually am sometimes restricted to coaching during a match, meaning the players typically have to step up to make calls and strategy changes,” Coach Tucker reflected. “That responsibility can be daunting, but students gain a lot of confidence when they know it’s up to them to step up, and they have people they trust backing them.” If you are interested in knowing more about the program and possible scholarship opportunities, Coach Tucker can be reached at ctucker@york.edu. n
