As the fall semester comes to an end, so does the first half of University of Idaho’s Esports Program’s second year. The program is still fairly new, especially for esports, but they’ve been kicking things up a few notches this semester.
The first year of the program’s existence was mostly dedicated to establishing interest from students, but now that they’ve gained that interest, they’re moving into a different phase: figuring out long-term funding and where their space will be.
“In a year, we easily outgrew our space. And we’ve basically outgrown our funding too,” Wayne Ebenroth, the Founder and Director of the Esports Department, said. “So, we’re now looking for opportunities for sponsor engagement, alumni support, donations, in order to help grow this program even further and support our efforts for recruitment and retention.”
According to Ebenroth, there are 127 esports players in 23 different team- and individual-game formats, including Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege, League of Legends, Mario Kart 8 and many more.
“That’s across about 30 different teams and a lot of individual players,” Ebenroth said. “For a second-year program to have that many players consistently coming to the lab and engaged, that’s fantastic.”
For the students that either work in the lab or play on a team, Ebenroth says that they’re gaining very useful social skills for their futures, such as teamwork and effective communication. These skills will become very useful in the events coming up at the end of this semester and the beginning of the spring semester.
Currently, the program has five teams in competition for the championship and they’re pushing through the semi-finals and finals. Both Rainbow Six Siege teams, the Counterstrike 2 varsity team, Rocket League varsity and the Mario Kart 8 teams are still competing, hoping to make it to the championships.
“I would be really surprised if at least a couple of them don’t come away with championships. We have a better understanding and more maturity when it comes to how we compete as a team, how we grow as a team, and how we compete with the opponents,” Ebenroth said.
He said that having teams make it to the championship would be validation that all the time, effort and hard work that he has put into the program and the teams have been producing results. Although it’s not the most important thing to make it to the championship, it would be a great accomplishment for the team or teams that made it and for the program as a whole.
“I want students to grow, I want students to have a good time and I want them to feel like they have a place to go when they don’t necessarily know where else to go on campus,” Ebenroth said.
If you have any questions about the program, want to look into working there or joining a team, or want to support the program, contact Wayne Ebenroth at [email protected].
Brooklynn Jolley can be reached at [email protected]