Ideas to Action: Tomahawk School District Creates Community with eSports Club
Paula Norman, Tomahawk School District
What in the world is eSports? To be honest I knew nothing about eSports until a year ago. Simply put, eSports is a form of sport competition using video games. eSports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. In our case, we compete against teams in other school districts who have enrollment sizes similar to ours, much like “athletics.” There are Varsity and JV teams. And, just like “physical” sports, we have a roster, select captains, and keep stats for kills, assists, etc. In-season records determine which teams make it to State. Participants, based on their stats, can receive 1st Team All Conference, 2nd Team All Conference, and Honorable Mention status. eSports is the fastest growing “sport” and students can receive college scholarships for eSports just like “regular” athletes.
eSports is the fastest growing “sport” and students can receive college scholarships for eSports just like “regular” athletes.
During school shut down last March, I attended a series of webinars on eSports. After doing more research, I learned that Northcentral Technical College in Wausau had just built an amazing eSports stadium and was willing to let high school students practice in it when the college wasn’t using it. I knew from talking to my husband who teaches in the high school and from my years of teaching in the district that we had a number of students who played video games and were looking for a place to fit in at the high school. I also knew more screen time would be controversial, however, I knew the population that plays video games was going home and playing anyways, so I thought, “Why not have them working together and communicating with others in a controlled environment?”
Last spring, WiLS announced the Ideas to Action Fund grant opportunity. Needless to say I applied, and in August the dream started with an email announcing that I received a $5000 grant to get eSports off the ground at Tomahawk High School. We were the only school district of the seven Ideas to Action grants to receive one. We were chosen because of the profound impact WiLS felt this would have on our students, community, other school districts, and with NTC.
The next step was to achieve club status so I could officially receive the grant and get this club off the ground. By October, we had written our bylaws, developed our code of conduct, and elected officers. We meet the first Wednesday of every month to conduct our business to comply with club standards so that hopefully in two years, the school district will sponsor this as an extracurricular activity. Right now the team has not received any district funding. The coaches – Mr. Wickman, Mr. Reiter, and myself – volunteer our time.
[T]he eSports club is targeting a group of students who have been forgotten….
We had so much interest, 18 students at one time, that I continued the grant seeking process since most of the games require teams of three or five and three computers with so many kids wasn’t going to allow us to compete. I wrote a proposal to the Tomahawk STAR Foundation and in December they interviewed me and asked me more questions. After that meeting they agreed to give us $3000. The Tomahawk Area Foundation For Youth (TAFFY) said they would consider our proposal after we exhausted every other funding source. I found out on January 1st that we would receive the remaining $7500. We would be able to have 10 computers so that 2 teams could game/practice at a time. Both foundations gave us the grant because the eSports club is targeting a group of students who have been forgotten and the foundations value the importance of finding a place to belong.
In the meantime, other foundations wanted to know what our club was doing to raise money and wanted to be invested in the cause so we held a Seroogy Candy Bar fundraiser from the middle of November through December, raising another $500. Our fundraising money went to pay for what the excess the grants didn’t cover and our registration fee to the Wisconsin High School eSports Association (WIHSEA) so that we could compete in the Spring League.
No matter our win/loss record this Spring, I consider this team winners for persevering through tech issues and laying the groundwork for the future during a pandemic.
We have twelve students who are very active. We are “learning a lot” in this process. Most of the students who have joined this club have never stayed after school for any event prior to this. They are learning that attendance and grades are a priority in co-curriculars, so through academic coaching by the advisors they are slowly understanding the commitment and time management aspect of extracurricular participation. We practice every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after school from 3:30-5. The excitement is very evident amongst the team members. It is really neat to see students who may not talk much in class take on leadership roles. We have signed up to compete in Rocket League (3 on 3 soccer with cars) and Smite (a 5 player game of strategy). Competition officially starts the first week in March, but since we are new we have to have some scrimmages before then. Right now we have 5 functional computers. The last 5 are on backorder as the graphics cards are in low supply.
When I wrote the WiLS grant, the timeline was that in the second year we would be starting to compete. Thanks to the generosity of the different foundations, we are competing in the Spring League. I never dreamed that would be possible and the eSports club is extremely grateful for the support. The excitement is real and growing. We have middle schoolers inquiring about how to join eSports when they get into high school. No matter our win/loss record this Spring, I consider this team winners for persevering through tech issues and laying the groundwork for the future during a pandemic. I can’t wait to see where this sport goes!
Paula presented about Tomahawk’s eSports club at the WiLS 2021 Membership Meeting and you can watch that moving presentation on our YouTube channel, beginning at the 28:00 mark.
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