Did you know Richland Campus has an Esports athletic program?

Perhaps you’ve wanted to level-up your skills and push yourself to become the best there is, or maybe you already consider yourself a talented player and want to put it to the test. By playing with fellow students who share your passion for teamwork and objective focused gameplay, you can show that you take video games seriously.

The Esports program of Dallas College currently hosts over 10 games, including Overwatch, Valorant, Smash Bros., FIFA, Madden, NBA2k, Call of Duty, Rocket League, Rainbow 6, and League of Legends.

Dallas College students can compete against both in and out-of-state community colleges with Esports programs.

Sky McCort, the head coach of Dallas College Esports, explains the game and student roster.

“The most popular games may change semester to semester. Overwatch and Valorant are the most popular ones right now, and Super Smash Bros. will always have a large pool of students. We had a lot of people show up for FIFA this semester as well, which is really awesome.

We have 110 active players, some training to be active next semester, and we have intramural as well, which are players that don’t meet the time or eligibility requirements but still want to try out and see how the program works,” McCort said.

Carlos Yanez, who plays support characters in the hero shooter game Overwatch, recalls his experience so far in the program.

“I’ve been playing video games for a while, but I always wanted that experience of playing the objective and trying to win. When you try to do that by yourself, it doesn’t work because the people you end up with aren’t doing that. When I play on a team, I know it’s good because they listen, they care, and they do what’s best for themselves and the whole team” Yanez said.

“When you play with your friends, it’s just for fun and you don’t have to take it seriously, but in competitions it can get really intense and you feel the pressure. Some people think it’s just a game and you should have fun, and you do have some fun, but not in the same way. You have to keep improving. You have to keep doing your best. It takes a lot of coordination to communicate and give callouts while timing all the things you have to do while playing your role. It’s really not as easy as people think,” Yanez added.

McCort shares a similar sentiment.

“I think a concept that is not fully understood about esports by a lot of people is that it’s an actual sport. Like we call it esports, and ‘sport’ is in the word, but I don’t think it’s acknowledged enough that this is an athletic sport. It is exhausting. It is tiring. You are training, and you are putting in a lot of effort. I believe it was 2020 that doctors finally acknowledged that Esport injuries were actually athletic injuries and that athletes could get covered on insurance for them. It’s starting to gain ground and get recognition as being an actual sport. What these students do is nothing short of mental and physical exhaustion by playing and learning these games and competing. It’s very impressive,” she said.

The Esports Program plays under the NJCAA and is considered an athletic sport alongside baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball. It has been a part of the athletics department for Dallas College since 2021, but it has its roots as a club established here at the Richland campus in 2017.

McCort recounted how the program came to be. “I was attending the game design program at Richland, and one day Chris Curra approached myself and some classmates to see if we wanted to participate in an Overwatch tournament at the Dallas Startup Week … we played with all the other colleges, and when we got back, we were thinking, ’Why aren’t we doing this? We are learning to make games here on the Richland campus, why aren’t we playing them?’

“We were originally planning on it only being at the Richland Thunderduck Hall, but it got picked up by Dallas College as an athletic program, which is still amazing because that is so good for students to have the athletic backing, to have everything that athletics offers them. But it started out as just a little student run club with myself as the president and Jonathan Cave as the acting vice president.

We had 300 signups on the first day. It was pretty crazy and it was us big group of students that volunteered and organized everything. I want to give kudos to Professor Patrick Eye, he was the only professor willing to be our faculty sponsor for the club. He was there for all our practices and competitions and was very supportive in the early stages. It started out as a student run club, and it’s so awesome to see how it’s grown into what it is,” McCort said.

Current full-time students can join the program online at rlcsports.com or in person at Thunderduck Hall. There is also intramural Esports with no time commitments for full and part-time students.

McCort adds that the program is non-discriminatory and inclusive for all students.

“All students from any walk of life are welcome in the program. We have some students on the spectrum, and we accept everyone as they are no matter what. We do keep it diverse and try to keep everyone happy, and everybody’s welcome.”