Principia College’s esports program is struggling to find students interested in joining. 

The program was started in 2017 by Rob Terrell, then a strength coach at Principia College and now a sports information director at Principia Upper School. Terrell started playing video games with athletes as a way to connect more with them. After being approached by former Athletics Director Lee Ellis, they collaborated to create a formal esports program where students could represent Principia in competitions. In its early years, the team had at least 20 players and competed against other colleges like Michigan State University.

Head Coach of the Esports team Neyko Dominguez said the team previously competed in multiple games including League of Legends and Valorant. Eventually, the team transitioned into playing just Valorant, a first-person shooter game where two teams of five players compete in rounds to win the match.

“We have always supported anybody who wanted to compete in whatever game,” Dominguez said. “If they want to start a Call of Duty team and play tournaments, we support that.”

Dominguez, who is also the head coach for the men’s basketball team, said there’s not been much interest from students to start a team and compete since their large class graduated in 2022. He said students from the Class of 2022 had leaders who united the team. The interest deteriorated after they graduated.

There isn’t any competitive team at the moment. 

“The room is open for students to use the computers,” Dominguez said, “but we don’t currently have a team to compete with other schools.”

Terrell said the state of the program is “kind of sad,” knowing that there’s only one registered player this semester, though not unexpected. He said the popularity of specific games in esports can be short-lived. 

“Esports is like a track program with one main sport but multiple events,” Dominguez said, “It’s tough to sustain interest in a single game for too long. The key is to figure out what students are interested in playing.”

Dominguez said joining the esports team counts as a Physical Education (PE) class although it doesn’t have a PE credit attached to it.

“I think we would get interest if it counts for a PE credit,” Dominguez said. The coach said that with the college’s “reimagining” of majors and academic structuring -including how physical education credits fit in- there might be an opportunity to bring up asking about it again.

Junior Enzo Martins Donadelli, a computer science major, said he agrees that interest would increase if being in the esports team counted as a PE credit.

“One of the reasons I didn’t try to get more people after everyone else graduated is because I still have to take PE classes despite being on the esports team,” Dominguez said. “We practice at the same time as other sports teams on Mondays through Fridays from 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m..”

Donadelli has been on the team since his freshman year. His first year, he was the sixth member to join the Valorant team and 11th overall. The team began to lose its size after seniors graduated in the coming years.

The program, located in Craften, is open to anyone interested in joining a competitive video gaming team, he said.  And joining the team follows the same process as signing up for class. 

“If anyone has an interest in competing in any game,” Dominguez said, “they can definitely contact me and we can set them up. We are willing to sponsor anyone that wants to play in tournaments.”

Donadelli said the number of players needed on the team depends on the game that’s being played. The two different games they had a team for in previous years needed a minimum of five players each. 

“We used an online platform to set up tournaments where we competed against other colleges across the country.”

While some students said they believe the interest would grow if it counted as PE credit, some said they were skeptical it had the physical aspect needed to qualify as PE.

Donadelli said it was fun being on the team despite having little numbers. He stressed there was no requirement needed to join, “It was nice playing competitively and we bonded as a team,” he said. 

Terrell said being a part of the esports team is different from gaming in your room. 

“Players are part of a team and a community,” Terrell said, “with roles like captain, shot-caller, and support.” He said one challenge that is often missed is that the rules change more quickly than in traditional sports. Soccer for example undergoes extensive review before the rules of the game can change. However, game updates can “buff” (strengthen) or “nerf” (weaken) characters overnight. While many players enjoy the constant updates, Terrell said it can also impact gameplay significantly. 

For students interested in joining or starting a team in any game, Dominguez said to reach out to him at [email protected]