{"id":29047,"date":"2020-09-22T05:30:21","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T10:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=29047"},"modified":"2020-09-21T21:27:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T02:27:53","slug":"apsus-esports-team-expanding-quickly-after-first-year-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2020\/09\/22\/apsus-esports-team-expanding-quickly-after-first-year-on-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU\u2019s esports team expanding quickly after first year on campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – Last September, Ranked-Up Esports President Austin Stewart expected 13 or 14 Austin Peay State University (APSU) students to show up at the team\u2019s first-ever interest meeting. More than 80 people showed up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were blown away,\u201d Stewart, a business senior, said. \u201cWe had 10 pizzas, and we quickly ran out of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University Ranked-Up Esports President Austin Stewart. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ranked-Up Esports quickly had more than 100 members attending team meetings and competing in local and area esports tournaments. Still in its infancy, the team is quickly ramping up in hopes of competing against established esports teams in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very new, very fresh out of there,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cMost teams have about three or four years before they actually really compete, and we are trying to catch up. We don\u2019t want Austin Peay State University to be behind the curve.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see schools like the University of Tennessee and Murray State having a lot of resources, so we\u2019re trying to push ourselves up and try to meet them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Ranked-Up Esports has several recruitment events for Austin Peay State University students coming up as the team launches into 2020-21 and hopes to enter more tournaments following a slowdown during the early months of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

What is esports?<\/h3>\n
\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University Ranked-Up Esports team. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

Simply put, esports is competitive video gaming. Competitors from leagues or teams face off in games such as Fortnite, League of Legends, Call of Duty, Overwatch and Madden NFL \u2013 games that are popular with everyday, play-at-home gamers.<\/p>\n

The biggest esports tournaments, however, draw millions of fans who watch live events or follow along on television or online streaming. The tournaments also bring in billions of dollars a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis encompasses Twitch and YouTube streaming, which is the bulk of it,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cEsports has grown exponentially in viewing and in money.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt used to be a backroom, GameStop tournament where you played Halo,\u201d he continued. \u201cNow it\u2019s something much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. John Nicholson, a computer science professor at Austin Peay State University and one of the team\u2019s advisers, said esports has all the hallmarks of football and basketball.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt takes lots of practice and professionally brings in a lot of money, but instead of taking place in a place like the Dunn Center, it happens in a suped-up computer lab,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ranked-Up Esports has teams that play Super Smash Bros., Call of Duty, League of Legends, Overwatch, Apex Legends and Rocket League.<\/p>\n

Bringing organized esports to Austin Peay State University
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University Ranked-Up Esports team. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

The idea to start a team at Austin Peay came to Stewart one night as he played some friends at Harvil Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a little friend group in my dorm, and we played games every now and then, we even had a little YouTube channel going,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cOne day when we were recording and playing, I just said, \u2018We should start an esports group.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018We have this, and it\u2019s so much fun for us, why can\u2019t we expand it and let the whole campus participate?\u2019\u201d he wondered.<\/p>\n

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And so, it started.<\/p>\n

Stewart quickly established the club, and Dr. Timothy F. Winters, director of the Honors Program, introduced him to people who could help, such as Nicholson.<\/p>\n

Regrouping during COVID-19 Pandemic<\/h3>\n
\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University Ranked-Up Esports team. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ranked-Up Esports enters the 2020-21 academic year with a new partnership with Tespa<\/a>, which runs official leagues for collegiate-level play of Blizzard and Activision games. The team should be able to play in Tespa-run leagues starting next spring, Stewart said.<\/p>\n

The ultimate goal is to compete against schools nationally.<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s Smash Ultimate team has been playing in recent tournaments, and the Overwatch team is gearing up for a tournament later this month.<\/p>\n

Stewart also plans to make a push for a permanent room on campus to host meetings and tournament play.<\/p>\n

Stewart and Nicholson think Ranked-Up Esports is a strong recruiting tool for the university as well.<\/p>\n

[320left]\u201cAround the country, there\u2019s a lot more students coming in to esports, even in middle school and high school divisions,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to engage kids, and it can pull people in from even farther reaches. Esports will have an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicholson sees proof of that on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll see students eating lunch on YouTube watching somebody playing a video game,\u201d he said, \u201cand I think, \u2018They\u2019re looking for tips, just like somebody who plays basketball for fun watches to see how the professionals do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Upcoming recruitment events<\/h3>\n

You can join Ranked-Up Esports by trying out for its teams at one (or more) of these dates (the team had a Super Smash Bros. and Call of Duty meetings last week):<\/p>\n