Esports continue to grow rapidly in high schools throughout Middle Georgia
"I heard Esports and I was like, they're bringing Esports to Peach County? Peach County?"
FORT VALLEY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The GHSA, in partnership with PlayVS, added esports as an official athletic event in the fall of 2018. Since the Peach County High School Esports Team has made a name for itself and continues to grow immensely.
“When I came into this school, I was like, this is an athletic school. This is more of a physical school. And then I heard esports, and I was like, they’re bringing esports to Peach County? Peach County?” said Splatoon captain Jaquavion Watkins.
The Peach County Esports Team first came to fruition in the spring of 2021. The Trojans first began competing in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate and Rocket League. And this past spring, Madden was added to the list of events, and the Trojans quickly rose to the ranks with a player claiming the individual state title.
“I had two players that were enrolled, and one of them played solely on Xbox, but we had to compete on PlayStation. So we acquired a PlayStation, and he made the transition easily from Xbox to PlayStation, and he came in with confidence, and we went all the way to the state and ended up actually competing nationally and finishing number two in the nation,” said head coach Dustin Chancellor.
Trevor Emmert, the player who ranked 2nd in Madden nationally, earned a scholarship toward his post-secondary education. Now, 175 colleges and universities are members of The National Association of Collegiate Esports, which provides scholarships and esports programs.
“When I joined esports, I just wanted to have fun. I didn’t even know there was a scholarship. I just wanted to join. But now that I know there is a scholarship, I kind of have to put in a little bit more effort than I put in originally.”
According to Statista, the global esports market is valued at 1.38 billion dollars, and this is just the inception. Even Peach County High School hopes to have its own facility for the esports program.
“But really, I just want to get more and more students involved. And the ones that may not like to shoot hoops or throw a football or kick a soccer ball around but they like to play video games, we want to try and get as many involved in that as we can and just see the program grow that way as well.”
