Esports are one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. It’s picking up steam in popularity because it's young, diverse and more modern compared to traditional sports.
RecSports at UF hosts a vast amount of intramural sports leagues and tournaments every semester. But, this spring during the COVID-19 pandemic, it launched its first-ever esports leagues.
RecSports included sports video games like Madden, NBA 2K, FIFA, MLB, NHL and classics such as Rocket League, Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros.
Justin Griffin has been a coordinator for sports programs at UF since June 2019 that oversees its intramurals and sports clubs.
He said RecSports considered starting an esports league before, but the right time never arose. During a typical semester, it offers 10 to 12 different intramural leagues along with its 50 sports clubs, which made it difficult to establish a new program like esports.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, halting on-campus leagues and tournaments. Griffin said RecSports wanted to find a way to make an impact virtually, so it was finally the time to start that esports league.
The league began once the shut down took place and continued through the summer semester.
So far, the leagues have been a success.
“We were trying to get things (video games) participants would register for and things they wanted to see,” Griffin said. “We’ve done that. We’ve had anywhere between 100 and 300 players each season.”
RecSports said that 461 players participated. Players can use almost any platform to participate, including Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch or their personal computer.
He added that the esports leagues are here to stay, and new video games are being added to its selection this fall.
“We’re offering League of Legends for the first time coming up,” Griffin said. “We’re hoping to introduce some strategy games in the fall like Civilization V.”
He explained how students can register to play, saying they can sign up like how they normally would for regular intramurals through rsconnect.recsports.ufl.edu, and clicking on the intramurals icon and hitting register.
Mark McGinnis, a sophomore computer science major, found out about the esports league through an email from RecSports. After seeing the email, he registered for his favorite game, Rocket League.
“Since the very beginning of it, I’ve tried to be very involved,” McGinnis said. “I've been playing with a couple friends of mine (on Rocket League). It's really fun, and it's something that I'm really happy that they're doing. I hope we keep it going.”
One benefit he’s enjoyed is making new friends. He said that, after playing a match against an opponent, they will play a few games competing on the same team.
However, McGinnis hopes that RecSports will add more games for PC because its selection is limited.
For students who are on the fence about playing, he encourages them to sign up because the leagues aren’t very competitive, and there’s a large skill gap between competitors.
“I definitely recommend joining,” McGinnis said. “We’re all part of the UF community, so we’re all working together to improve. The best way to improve is to play against players who are better. So don’t be nervous about not being the best because there is always someone better than you.”
Follow Zachary on Twitter @zacharyahuber and contact him at zhuber@alligator.org.
