Houston, Texas – home to over 6.9 million people, the largest city in Texas, and the debut place of a new way of gaming. Esports is a new genre of gaming that allows sports teams to get together and have tournaments. This new gaming platform would spike interest in a young man\u2019s heart to bring esports to a metropolitan area 290 miles north of Houston in Texarkana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long before esports, the world welcomed a young man named George Sawyer into the world born and raised in Houston, Texas. Now residing in Texarkana, Sawyer is attending Texas A&M University-Texarkana on a full academic scholarship and is in his senior year. He holds a position in most organizations here on campus and plans to use what he learns to help push his career forward. \u201cI\u2019m hoping to go into broadcasting sports, but the overall goal is to commentate for professional esports games,\u201d said George. He didn\u2019t have an interest in actual sports, but it grew over time. \u201c I didn\u2019t like sports, until I started playing football in middle school and then my interest peaked,\u201d and his love for actual sports pushed his interest into computer gaming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has a passionate interest in making the esports team represent Texas A&M University-Texarkana in a positive and exciting way. \u201cI would like to see the university give more recognition to esports because most colleges refuse to offer it,\u201d says Sawyer. As of right now, the university doesn’t know that the esports team is nationally ranked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The school funded a dance team for $50,000 and denied the esports team half of that investment to build a gaming lab for upcoming gamers. “The fourth floor seems to care more about what looks good than what people care about,” said one student. With that money, the team could have built a better gaming lab, which would have provided more opportunities for players to learn and give everyone their own space to develop. As quoted by another source, \u201cthe school gives our Student Life Center thousands of dollars each year to show off “The Best Week Ever”, but every year the number of students participating decreases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
George said, “I spoke with a representative to assist me with organizing a town hall meeting to gain recognition for the e-sports team’s accomplishments”. It’s not usual to see a twenty-two-year-old man spend the majority of his time protesting for change at his soon-to-be alma mater. “I just want them to recognize us [esports players] as students too. We don’t dance or participate in harmful acts. We just play video games and stay out of trouble.” By playing video games, you can learn valuable skills such as exceptional hand-eye coordination, being aware of your surroundings, and how to work as a group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So why would a school deny students access to those types of survival skills? Hopefully, the community will be given more insight into these issues when Mr. Sawyer holds the informative town hall meeting at the end of the month. \u201cI\u2019m hoping the meeting will take place at the end of September, but the beginning of October at the latest. I want to force the fourth floor [the administrative offices of President Cutrer] to finally acknowledge us as a positive and growing organization.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Houston, Texas – home to over 6.9 million people, the largest city in Texas, and the debut place of a new way of gaming. Esports is a new genre of gaming that allows sports teams to get together and have … Continue reading