GHS e-Sports Club

GHS e-Sports Club Awarded Reaching Out Grant Funding

The Alliance awarded a $12,000 Reaching Out Grant to the Greenwich High School e-Sports Club for the 2020-2021 school year and a follow-up grant for the 2021-2022 year. The GHS eSports Club started in 2018, attracts a diverse group of students and is increasing in popularity. The funds will be used to purchase additional gaming consoles to allow more students to participate.

What is e-Sports? e-sports is a form of sports competition using video games; e-Sports take the form of organized multi-player video game competitions with a strict set of rules/guidelines and coaches. Over 200 colleges and universities are expanding eSport programs and offering scholarships. According to Statista, the global eSports market was valued at just over US$950 million in 2020 and is estimated to reach almost US$1.6 billion in 2023. 

eSports offers opportunities for students to develop a range of skills and pursue careers beyond competitive gaming including: design and coding, event planning, media production, data analytics, sales and marketing, management, coaching and sports commentary. Some GHS eSports Club students are attempting graphic design, some are doing video editing, while many others are using the opportunity to organize casual gaming just for fun.

The GHS eSports Club meets on Monday evenings over Google Meet, with 15-20 participants. Currently, there are 4 different teams competing in tournaments: two teams (named “Greenwich Gremlins”) playing the game Rocket League with the High School eSports League in the official CT tournament organization, one team playing Valorant, and one team competing at Rainbow 6 Siege. One “Greenwich Gremlins” team competes in the regional tournament (North Eastern US) and the other “Greenwich Gremlins” is the GHS’ state team that is technically part of CIAC.

The number of players per team varies depending on the video game. The two Rocket League teams (“Greenwich Gremlins”) have 3 players each. Both Valorant and Rainbow 6 Siege are 5 players per team. The Club doesn’t (yet) have an Overwatch team, which would be 6 players.

13 different teams from around the state are currently playing Rocket League. CT was one of the first states to officially support eSports tournaments. To learn more, visit CIAC’s website for eSports: http://ciacsports.com/site/?page_id=12793.

For the Fall of 2021, the eSports club members are looking forward to in person meetings and using the recently purchased gaming computers funded through the Alliance grants.