game? learn? Why not both?
In 2023, Neighborhood News reporter Melissa Trevino introduced South Texas to a group of coyotes who launched an esports program in the Alice Independent School District. Currently they are champions with three state titles and one national championship.
e-Sports-Simply Put- is an electronic game in which students compete online with other schools.
Alice ISD student Jason Santos is one of the captains of the William Adams Middle School two-week team.
When he talks about electronic sports, he said it was great.
“A mysterious place. You can make the games you played in your childhood a challenge, two weeks, peaks, courage, and more,” Santos said. “We can go out and have a lot of fun, and we’ll play the games I grew up playing, and we can learn more about strategy and teamwork.”
The eighth graders joined a friend on a game console two years ago.
He said these programs aren’t just about skills.
“It makes sure you’re on the right path to getting to the state, and it needs to keep you up,” Santos said. “We have a lot of communication. It requires good friendship and it requires a lot of cohesion. So we can be one team.”
He said he was a naturally born leader. Something that is useful when helping a teammate.
In 2023, Joe Owen Griggs was one of the students in the pilot program. In the news on Kris 6, “For me – it’s like exercising my heart and fingers. And I mostly like it because it’s almost always quiet and more concentrated.”
Now he said, “e-sports – everything has changed.”
Esports still exercises his mind and measures his athletic ability, but that’s also time when it comes to teamwork.
“No teamwork – we’re messy. We’re a team, we can play against other teams, it’s the best when someone is injured near us, and we can help them,” Griggs said.
According to Griggs, a new aspect of change. “Now we have to do Zearn or Prodigy,” he told Kris 6 News.
Sean Ramirez is one of the newest esports athletes.
“I’ve always been passionate about playing games, and doing it after school was fun,” the eighth grader said. “I’ve always been very interested in pursuing video games.”
He looks forward to what he believes to take from his passion.
“Perhaps leadership, communication, advice,” Ramirez said.
The e-Sports sponsor said the biggest thing these athletes learn is actually discipline.
“One of the biggest things they learn is discipline, especially in esports programs. It’s discipline that shows up every day. Anything in life – if you want to win it in the state, it requires discipline. And that’s the best thing I can do.
He said more teenagers are interested in relatively new sports as they learn better through electronic devices and video games along those lines. ”
These boys don’t know what the future of esports will be like. But for them, growth and confidence are all attributed to this program.
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