WCDS Adds Esports Team to Student Activities

Extracurricular opportunities for Westchester Country Day School students leveled up with the introduction of the school’s first esports team.

Esports is competitive multiplayer video gaming, an activity that has gained popularity and is growing in both participation and audience. Teams of players around the world compete in organized events for a variety of popular video games.

Westchester’s new esports team will compete with students from other independent schools during a seven-week spring season. Westchester is among the first schools in the state to participate in organized esports competition within the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA). The team is coached by WCDS faculty member Andy DiMattia, a math teacher who is an experienced gamer.

“Esports uses similar skills to what you need for sports – mental fortitude, hand-eye coordination and reaction time – minus the physical aspect, so it’s very inclusive. It takes some practice to get to a certain level, but anyone can jump into a game,” said DiMattia. “It’s a whole world where there are global tournaments for some of these games, and it’s been slowly building up steam since 2010 when people started looking at gaming as more than just playing on their living room sofa.”

Esports at Westchester is open to students in grades 9-12. The team meets after school in a technology lab outfitted with specialized equipment for gaming and robotics. The lab includes six gaming computers with 34-inch monitors equipped with the refresh rate and resolution to support fast-paced games, as well as wireless keyboards, mice and headsets. The lab also includes LED lighting, a SMART Interactive television, gaming desks and chairs, and a seating area for hosting small groups of spectators, students or meeting participants.

“These are gaming PCs, but they run more than games,” said DiMattia. “They can be used for broadcasting and video production, graphic design and more. We hope to broadcast some of our games much like sporting events, and that will be student-led. They will learn technical skills colleges are looking for, also, communication, leadership and teamwork.”

The esports season includes two game days a week (currently 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and a playoff. A group of three students from the team competes together in Rocket League, an arcade-style game in which vehicles play soccer. Another group of students plays Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a game in which characters battle to knock their opponents from the arena. There is interest in adding a group to compete in the game Fortnite.

While the teams are playing each other virtually in separate locations miles away, they communicate throughout the game using Discord, an instant messaging social platform that allows chat and voice communication.

The esports program is part of a broader initiative to enhance technology education at Westchester, which also includes robotics and an academic emphasis in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) for grades K-12. Generous donations from WCDS families and a matching grant from the E.E. Ford Foundation jump-started the lab and equipment upgrades for the program and will support further technology facilities and programming additions in the future.