Carthage to Launch Competitive Esports Program

3/1/2021 11:36:00 AM

KENOSHA, Wis. – Well-positioned to meet rising student demand, Carthage College has adopted esports as a varsity sport and will begin competing this fall.

The popularity of esports, the official term for competitive video gaming, has surged in recent years. Through the first two months of 2021, more than 500 applicants for admission to Carthage expressed an interest in it.

Esports becomes the first coed varsity sport at Carthage, and the 28th overall for the Firebirds — the school's newly installed team name. The team is expected to compete on a limited basis in 2021-22 before ramping up its schedule the following year.

"As one of the few small colleges in the region with an esports program, we're eager to tap into the groundswell that's feeding a billion-dollar global industry," says Nate Stewart, director of athletics. "It's a huge new opportunity we can offer as we recruit future Carthage student-athletes."

The Athletic Department has already opened the search for an esports program director. Carthage resides at the center of a competitive hotbed, with roughly 40 percent of Wisconsin's registered high school esports teams located within an hour's drive of the campus.

About one-third of the college's undergraduate population competes in NCAA Division III athletics. The NCAA doesn't yet sanction esports, so Carthage plans to join the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) — the only governing body for varsity college programs in North America.

Formed in fall 2019, a college-wide Esports Task Force consulted with industry experts and peer programs to develop the plan. Carthage sophomore Jordan Ball, who specialized in the game Overwatch as a senior on his Wilmot Union High School team, took a lead role in the process.

"Bringing esports to Carthage allows people who share my simple hobby to use it for something more," he says, "and to represent our college at the state and potentially national levels."

A space in the Todd Wehr Center will be converted to a gaming studio for the Firebirds' practices and competitions. Carthage is raising funds to help cover the cost of renovations and hopes to secure corporate sponsors.

The coming renovations will also set aside classroom space for related courses.

"The benefits of an esports program extend well beyond the Athletic Department," says Abigail Hanna, vice president for administrative planning and innovation. "Besides further diversifying Carthage's menu of extracurricular activities, we're confident it will build new bridges to academic offerings."

For example, faculty members expect students who pursue the college's new undergraduate minor in game development — and computer science majors who add the optional concentration in it — to consult with team members when creating and refining original games.

"No technology should be developed in a vacuum," says Carthage computer science professor Perry Kivolowitz, co-creator of the game development program. "As experts in game design and playability, the student-athletes in our esports program can offer valuable input in the development of user-centric technology."

The number of Carthage students declaring majors in computer science rose 50 percent in the last decade. Faculty members like Kivolowitz, who has won two Academy Awards and an Emmy for technical contributions to movies and television, draw from their broad experience.

The varsity sport's launch also comes on the heels of Carthage's first graduate course in Esports. Part of a new master's degree track in sports management, it analyzes the business side of the rapidly expanding industry.

The course is taught by esports team founder Paul Gagliardi, whose Team FiRE competes professionally in the game Apex Legends.

"Our students were really passionate throughout the class, and they really took to heart the lessons from such a disruptive force in the sports industry," says management and marketing professor Gregory Barron, who directs the Master of Science program in business. "Building a broad ecosystem around esports at Carthage greatly enhances the learning potential."

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