For plenty of people, gaming is a key factor in life that helps boost their mood, relieve stress, or just to enjoy their free time. Just as fast as gaming became popular, it’s changing due to the introduction of online tournaments where someone can win money. Along with that, the start of esports which just like more traditional sports, is a team or solo competition to win. Although it is still a smaller community than physical sports like football, there are official teams and millions of people that enjoy the competitions who may be either spectators or players. Even some colleges have official esports teams, so we should bring them to East.

Esports have already found themselves close to home with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln having its own esports team, and 10 different scholarship opportunities for future esports players. As a high school, Bellevue East should start to prepare its students for this upcoming age of professional gaming. Although high schools wouldn’t be as serious about an official team, it would be an amazing opportunity for students to have a gaming club able to compete together against each other and potentially other schools.

There is one major drawback to an esports team, which is funding. The expensive cost of gaming systems and games would always be advancing to newer systems and games which would cost a large amount of money, making it hard to expect the club and its fund raisers to be able to support its own needs.

Alternatively, students could register with their home devices making it a partly virtual club, having plenty of student interest fund raisers to help out more with the additional costs. Unfortunately, being at home for tournaments would interfere with the level of professionalism of the esport team. Another alternative would be to utilize students’ home devices and make it a gaming club so there wouldn’t be that needed professionalism. Making it a club instead of a sport would broaden the activities from board games, to single player games, and more. Becoming a club does not mean there couldn’t also be an esports team that is a part of it, made up of the club’s best gamers for the respective games they play.

The purpose of any club is to enlighten the youth of their personal interest and, more importantly, have fun, meet new friends and enjoy getting better at that subject or just socializing with their peers. The implementation of a new gaming club and/or esports team would have said benefits for the students that enjoy gaming.