Dr. Laura Sawyer has long been a proponent of game-based Esports. She has been in the Polk County School system for 20 years, the last two years as senior manager of instructional technology.
She’s been busy researching the positive effects of Esports on students, which include providing college scholarship opportunities while engaging youngsters at home positively. She says she likes the idea of resiliency in gaming, comparing problem-solving in games to solving a math problem.
“With Esports, one of the pivotal things for us in both proposing and just investigating it, just to begin with, is opening up those opportunities for students to engage them in a platform that they are comfortable in, that they love and enjoy, and bring them into the school community through something that they truly enjoy.”
With research equating to positive effects on students, Sawyer proposed the notion of Esports to the Polk County School system — including athletic director Dan Talbot and other high-level administrators — in September. But for now, Sawyer said, COVID-19 canceling and suspending sports a few years ago is the reason Esports has made progress the last few years.
While Esports has not been approved by the school board, Sawyer said her goal is for the program to become officially sanctioned in the near future.
The goal is to present Esports to the board in June. “We’re pretty sure it’s going to have a positive result,” Sawyer said. We’re going to bring all that data to the school board when we propose it to be approved as an official sport within Polk County Schools.”
Esports is currently in a tryout process. Esports in Polk County is now in Week 3, as the gaming league started March 28. In its inaugural pilot season, six teams from Polk County Schools — Frostproof High, Kathleen High, Lake Gibson High, Lake Region High, Ridge Community High and Roosevelt Academy — have been competing in “Rocket League,” a game comprised of soccer with rocket-powered cars. Student-athletes are competing at their own schools online.
Polk County Esports will conclude with a championship held at Florida Southern College on May 12.
“We have a few teams that have been in place for several years, and they’re knocking it out of the field. They’re doing fantastic,” Sawyer said.
The success of Esports shouldn’t be a surprise. Esports has had a broad appeal among fans and students of many backgrounds worldwide — including at the college level. In Polk County, Florida Southern College, Southeastern University and Keiser all have Esports programs.
“Athletics is about reaching kids, giving them opportunities and making them better people. We want to encompass that in Esports as well,” Talbot said. “By expanding and broadening our programs, we’re getting a different type of student-athlete.”
Eddy Varela, a resource specialist for Polk County School Technology Services, is the project leader of Esports. He said Esports levels the playing field for all students regardless of physical abilities and disabilities. And, he said, it broadens extracurricular options for all students.
“Another aspect of this is we’re trying to revamp what athletics means in our county,” Varela said. “As Esports grows in the world, we’re attempting to help our students stay at the forefront of that industry. We’re looking toward the future with this.”
