Esports, or competitive video gaming, is an industry that has taken off spectacularly in recent years. The esports market is currently valued at about $1.38 billion, according to Statista, with much of the share of revenue coming from sponsorships and advertising. Popular titles played at the competitive level include Fortnight, Overwatch and Valorant.
Besides generating a lot of money, esports is also attracting the attention of colleges, with over 200 offering scholarships.
CT Esports Academy is part of this wave of interest in esports, offering kids a safe space to engage in esports and learn basic programming skills. Its first location opened last year in Southington and its second location in Norwalk recently opened this year. The latter facility is headed by both Peter Quinn and Adam Culver, who run the facility as site directors, managing and creating programs and lesson plans and overseeing games being played.
Quinn attended the University of Hartford, where he received his degree in psychology. In the realm of esports, Quinn spent roughly three years playing semiprofessionally at the collegiate level. At the University of Hartford, he was a captain of its Overwatch team and member of its Esports Advisory Committee. Culver is also an alumnus of the University of Hartford and likewise served as a captain of the university”™s Overwatch team.
“If your kid enjoys video games or maybe he or she is even playing it too much or doesn”™t play with other people,” Quinn said, “give them the opportunity to socialize properly, to hang out with friends who play the same video game as them, to make this interest less as just something that wastes time, but as a genuine hobby in which you can gain a lot.”
Much like traditional sports, the Academy offers children the opportunity to learn the fundamentals and importance of teamwork and communication, collaborating with a group of peers in a structured environment. The Academy provides lesson plans and action plans that demonstrate the most optimal way to play, leading members to attain high levels of skill.
“The biggest thing is to focus upon growth, utilizing lesson plans that our coaches who have experience in this have designed to bring a player from the beginning portion of their experience in playing video games or playing competitively or attempting to go pro, and bringing them to the terminus of whatever that is,” Quinn said.
The Academy”™s competitive esports team, CT Storm, engages in various games such as Fortnite, Apex Legends, Overwatch, and Rocket League, with players sharpening their skills through 90 minutes of in-person, coach-led practice sessions. Each week, CT Storm goes head-to-head against another team from across North America in an online match.
CT Storm has three divisions: Recruit division for players aged seven to 11, Elite division for players aged 11 to 15 and Masters division for players aged 15 to 18. Because gaming is a relatively stationary activity, children with physical disabilities or conditions that prevent entry into traditional sports are able to participate.
STEM education is also part of the Academy”™s offerings. Its youth coding league stimulates and encourages an interest in STEM by providing kids with experience by way of the Scratch programming tool.
“It”™s still a competitive league,” Quinn said, “but it”™s designed specifically for kids who are looking to try and problem solve and come up with creative solutions, all in a coding language that is designed for adolescents.”
Kids”™ interest in STEM is also promoted through easy and enjoyable tasks, such as helping to run the server for Minecraft. The Academy introduces “these coding and engineering problems at soft levels early on in adolescence, so that they can enjoy or find a way to enjoy learning about these things, to make them lifetime hobbies, or even their core focus of career aspirations,” Quinn said.
