Southwestern Oklahoma State University Students will have an opportunity to join the new esports team.
Esports will allow students to compete against other teams in a variety of video games such as Super Smash Bros., League of Legends, Rocket League and more.
SWOSU announced tryouts for the official Super Smash Bros team will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, October 3, in the Skyview Suite of the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
Coaching the esports team will be Computer Science instructor Hayden Harrington.
“It’s up to us to collaborate with other directors and coaches so we can have our teams compete against them for competitions,” dean of students and director of esports Joshua Engle said.
Currently the arena for esports is being constructed and is located inside the Wellness Center on SWOSU campus.
The arena will have competitors stacked on top of one another to add drama that other arenas might not have.
“We’ll actually have one team on top of the other on the second floor, we’ll also have some seating on the second floor arena and some standing room,” Engle said.
Engle believes the program will be popular among students.
“Our computer and video game club is actually the largest organization on our campus, but any student on campus that has a good academic standing, meaning a 2.0 grade point average or above can compete in esports,” Engle said.
SWOSU is hoping to find ways to get scholarships to students who compete in esports.
“Right now we are working with sponsors and are hoping to have scholarships available for students, it’s tricky because we rely on the community and businesses in the community to supply the program,” Engle said.