Congratulations to the Kilgore College Esports Team on Their First Championship

I am not afraid that I am 45 years old and still love to play video games. My favorite game genres are role playing games (RPG), action games and beat em ups. These games can be new or go all the way back to the original Nintendo. My platform of choice is PlayStation but I also have a Nintendo Switch. One aspect of gaming I have never gotten into is Esports. Its a fast growing area of competition, so much so that many colleges are adding it to their curriculum, including Kilgore College. Recently, their Esports team brought home their very first championship and did it against some tough competition.

Get our free mobile app

Esports is a Sport

There is a stigma around Esports with people saying it is not a sport at all. Their reasoning is that you don't sweat or that you are not running or being physically active to participate. Thing is, it is a sport. You have to put in hours of practice, just like football or basketball. You have to have a certain skillset, just like baseball or hockey. There is a certain mental aptitude that must remain constant, just like in soccer or gymnastics. Just because they are using a mouse and keyboard and sitting in front of a monitor doesn't mean it's not a sport.

Kilgore College Esports Teams

For Kilgore College, their championship team consists of 40 players split amongst five games, Valorant, Rocket League, Smash Bros Ultimate, Overwatch 2 and Fortnite. The teams competed in the National Association of Collegiate Esports (N.A.C.E.) against some of the best teams in the country.

During the Rangers championship run, they beat teams from Caltech and Ole Miss. As head coach Andy Taylor describes it to the Longview News Journal, "The league that we compete in ... it’d be the equivalent of the Rangers football team competing in the SEC."

How Kilgore College Esports Team Won Their Championship

Kilgore College competed in the West-Central Conference of the N.A.C.E. which consists of 64 teams. The Rangers were able to beat the University of Alaska Fairbanks to move on to the conference championship against Bushnell College which was on Wednesday, November 30.

Congratulations to the Kilgore College Esports team on this championship. Keep up the great work and good luck in future competitions. If you want some more details on the Kilgore College Esports team, go to kilgore.edu.