WSCC begins competing in eSports.

WSCC begins competing in eSports.

VICTORY TOWNSHIP — West Shore Community College is competing in intercollegiate sports with the creation of a new eSports student organization.

The WSCC eSports club is competing with other colleges and universities from across the nation in a game called Rocket League.

Recently, the West Shore team competed against Purdue, Indiana University, and the University of Michigan, the latter a nationally-ranked eSports team.

WSCC eSports recently received funding from the Student Senate and the college to purchase cameras, gaming chairs, and other eSports accessories. The club plans to begin live streaming its games with color commentary provided by WSCC students.

“Student Senate was excited to approve eSports as an official registered student organization and to provide start-up funds for the club,” Annie Jacobson, director of enrollment management and student engagement  said. “This is an amazing opportunity for our students to compete against students from colleges and universities across the US. This aligns nicely with one of the Senate’s goals for the year, which is to provide more athletic and gaming opportunities for our students.”

“There are already 30 members of eSports and it’s really growing by the day,” said club advisor, Kellon Petzak, WSCC associate professor of computer information technology. “Currently, we compete every Saturday at 3 p.m. If the college had a football or basketball team, we’d be limited to competing against other community colleges in the area. But in eSports, West Shore can go up against top 10 programs in the nation. We’re excited to begin live streaming our matches and are considering offering scholarships in the future to recruit top players from local high schools.”

“The college has long been interested in developing sports programs of some kind, but without student housing, our efforts have been quite limited,” said WSCC President Scott Ward. “ESports is an exciting first step for the college into the world of collegiate athletics. This affords our students the opportunity to compete at the highest level against nationally ranked colleges and universities. We look forward to growing the program in the future and perhaps one day joining the National Association of Collegiate eSports.”

For more information about the club, contact Petzak at kpetzak@westshore.edu or 231-843-5594.