Game on for USU esports

Gone are the days when sports meant just balls and fields — at Utah State University, the Esports Club is proving that competitive gaming deserves its chance in the spotlight. Composed of teams playing games like “Super Smash Bros,” “League of Legends,” “Rocket League” and more, esports is an organized group that has passion for gaming and friendship.

Finance major and senior Matthew Thomas is also the general administrator for the “Counter-Strike” team. He said the role involves handling scheduling, tryouts and helping coach the team. He loves helping out his teammates and said his senior year felt like a great time to step into a leadership position.

He originally played a similar game called “Valorant,” as there wasn’t a “Counter-Strike” team. After interest was expressed in the game, they held tryouts. Thomas said he planned on focusing on his studies in his last semesters but saw the tryouts and decided to join the team.

Thomas shared his favorite part of esports was the connections he made there.

“The best part is making friends for sure,” Thomas said. “Some of the guys I met this semester, they’re pretty funny and great to hang out with. We just love talking about the game and playing the game and playing against other colleges too.”

He shared a few of his favorite experiences this year, including a watch party with all his teammates for a major “Counter-Strike” competition that took place in Shanghai. The competition occurred after fall finals finished, and the watch party became an end-of-semester party as well.

“It was in Shanghai, so it started at 2 a.m.,” Thomas said. “We all stayed up and watched it and finished up at like 6 a.m. It was insane. It was so fun to watch with like 10 people in my house. It was awesome.”

Odin Kazmer, a member of the club’s executive council and captain of the “Overwatch” team, agreed the bonds formed at esports is one of his favorite aspects.

“We all have super similar interests, and they all have a great sense of humor too,” Kazmer said.

He said friendships with his teammates are not the only ones he’s formed.

“I’ve gotten super close to my teammates and other club members too, just by going to activities that everyone’s invited to,” Kazmer said. “Also, I like meeting people at other esports programs. Recently, we had a tournament in Orem where we went down to Utah Valley University and played in a huge ‘Overwatch’ tournament down there with all the other Utah schools. I met a ton of other people.”

According to Kazmer, the activities, such as socials and in-house tournaments, are free for anyone with an interest in gaming to attend. They are also holding tryouts starting Jan. 13, which anyone can participate in.

“It is really open to anyone. You don’t have to have any experience playing games or anything like that before. You can still be involved,” Kazmer said. “All of our activities we do are open to all students. Really, just being a club member is just like having the connection to other people playing games. That’s our main thing — we’re not just competitive teams. We also are like the gaming club as well.”

Along with that, Kazmer hopes esports spreads across campus and more students will be aware of this group. He says gaming is a great and flexible way to compete, make new friends and have fun.

“I would really just want to see it get more widespread across campus,” Kazmer said. “Like, if I went to someone randomly in one of my classes and asked, ‘Do you know we have an esports club?’ They’re more likely to say, ‘No, I didn’t.’ It’s really just getting it more out there.”

Thomas also hopes that esports is more recognized by the USU community.

“We’re just like any other sport, you know. We want to win really bad, and we practice hard to try to achieve that,” Thomas said. “It’s not just a game, you know, it’s esports now. It’s like a billion dollar industry at this point, and I think it’s still kind of in its infancy, but I think it’s going to be the new trend going on, absolutely in 50 years.”

He also shared he hopes it will someday be a sanctioned sport at the university.

“The players have to actually have to pay into being a part of the club,” Thomas said. “It would be awesome if it was a sanctioned sport that the school can offer scholarships for because right now, it’s a club activity.”

To learn more about esports, visit usu.edu/campusrec/competitive-sports/esports.