Caribou, Maine (WAGM) -Esports popularity continues to gain in popularity and many schools like caribou, are already implementing it into their after school activities for students to participate in.
The Vikings Esports Team, Gilson’s Goons of Caribou, began as a way to give students a sport to participate in during the pandemic as well as connect those who were not as interested in soccer or basketball
Kyle Gilson: “Students weren’t able to participate in certain activities because of covid restrictions and everything. And its a really good outlet for student that don’t wanna be on a baseball or basketball team and it really helps them..kinda..break out of their shell a little bit”.
Although Esports does not follow exactly follow the old oxford definition for what a sport is, there are some qualities of it that make it a good sport to be apart of.
Kyle Gilson: “Their still working as a team, their communicating, their practicing, their working on your skills, getting better; And they have to continually work at it to improve”.
When it comes to playing the games such as Rocket League, Understanding the Mechanics can be a great skill to have.
Kyle Gilson: “In Rocket league its called mechanics, so its like how the ball will hit the car at a certain spot, if it hits the top of the car or the bottom side of the car, or the front or back of the car. Depending on that, its a lot of mechanics on that part”
Coach Gilson says if you have good mechanics you can do a lot more moves when hitting the ball, one example would be a double reset.
Kyle Gilson:” So they hit it, and if they hit the ball just right with all four wheels, they can get another flip. So its called a flip reset at that point”.
Coach Gilson says for the most part, most of the equipment needed is already owned by the students, but he hopes to receive more equipment at the high school so the students can participate in the matches there.
Kyle Gilson: » most of them are already playing video games, and they use their equipment; as of right now for us, They use their own equipment and I’m hoping in the next few years that were going to be able to get equipment here at the high school, so everything will be here, done at the high school
Gilson also says he sees a bright future for Esports in the county, allowing kids who wouldn’t have the chance to participate in a high school sport.
Kyle Gilson: » It gives a great outlet for students that are a little more introverted, and it gives them a nice outlet to actually be participating in a high school sport. and it also connects them with other people that have similar interests”.
Currently 10 to 15 students compete in e sports in Caribou and Gilson hopes to see that number grow.
Jonathon Eigenmann, NewsSource Sports.
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