Students at Lambton College will have another varsity team to throw their support behind this fall.

Esports– described as organized, competitive video games by Lori Atkin, an IT manager at Lambton College and one of the driving forces behind esports at the school– joins the likes of the Lambton Lions soccer and basketball teams this September.

Rick Brown, another College employee who campaigned for varsity esports, said the idea for the team was dreamed up last October. After watching tech industry trends, Atkin and Brown noticed esports was booming, especially among college aged individuals.

Recently, the esports audience was pegged at about 300 million people by market researcher Newzoo and by 2020, that number will likely be closer to 500 million. While esports are mostly played online, major tournaments can fill venues such as the Air Canada Centre and traditional sports networks like ESPN and TSN feature esports.

Atkin and Brown approached College administration with the idea for varsity esports and admit they were surprised when it was well received.

“It actually happened much quicker than we expected it to,” said Atkin.

To prepare for the new endeavor, Atkin and Brown spoke with schools that have already incorporated esports into their athletic programs such as Robert Morrison University and the University of California in Irvine. About 15 U.S. colleges already include esports on their list of varsity activities.

The Lambton College team will focus on PC gaming and a first-of-its-kind a “gaming arena” featuring 20 high-end GeForce Battle Box Ultimate computers equipped with “Ryzen 7 1800X processors, 32 gigabytes of ram, and 1080ti superclocked graphics cards” is being installed in a former students’ lounge.

“We’re definitely the first college in Ontario, and probably Canada to have that available,” Atkin said.

Brown said eventually, other students will be able to rent time in the arena and reservations will be open to the community for activities such as Minecraft birthday parties for kids and team-building activities for workplaces.

Construction begins on our arena space! Leaving it to the pros at Steelcase on this one. #September7 #RunProgram pic.twitter.com/ey1UPL2tHr — Lambton Esports ? (@LambtonEsports) August 22, 2017

Lambton College has hired Sarnia-native and professional gamer Dave Mastrobuono as the team’s coach and tryouts are scheduled to begin September 7 when students are back on campus.

Brown said he expects the varsity team to have three smaller units focusing on specific games. The League of Legends and Counter Strike: Global Offensive teams will each have 6 members and the Overwatch team will take on 7 members. This includes an extra member on each team who is able to replace a player facing an emergency or unable to make it to a match.

Eventually, Brown said, the varsity team could expand to include games such as Defense of the Ancients 2 (DOTA2) and Rocket League.

Students on the Lambton Lions esports team will have to meet the same Ontario College Athletic Association standards as other varsity athletes when it comes to things such as the number of classes in which players are enrolled. Being a member of the varsity team also comes with perks such as a keyboard and headset supplied by the College, according to Brown.

“The varsity team will not only consist of people because they are good at certain video games. We want to make sure we have people who are good team players, who are aware of the strategies involved, who have the discipline and commitment to be a part of the team, because it’s not just individuals on the team, they have others to think of,” said Atkin.

Introducing esports to the college is more than just an extra team in the athletics department. Atkin and Brown said many students play video games or watch esports as a way to de-stress, and the new gaming arena will be a welcome addition to student life.

“It’s going to stay student focused,” said Brown.

Esports attract a diverse range of students, according to Atkin and Brown. So far, Lambton College students studying nursing, business, and trades programs have expressed interest in the team.

“It’s not just computer programmers,” said Atkin.

Brown said the esports team will be co-ed and assistive technology is available to be sure anyone can join the team.

Keeping students in mind, Atkin and Brown also reached out to the Lambton College Gaming Community, a club launched by brothers Mark Hill and Joel Hill who wanted to create a hub for hobby gamers at the school.

Upon hearing the potential for a varsity esports team, the recreational club was excited by the idea. Joel Hill said the gaming club plans to work with the varsity team to share news and build a stronger community around video games at the College.

Lambton College’s varsity esports team will be one of Canada’s collegiate esports pioneers. Currently, Windsor’s St. Clair College and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology are the only other colleges treating esports as a varsity sport. While teams from a myriad of post-secondary institutions compete at esports tournaments such as Collegiate Starleauge (CSL), those teams are often student organized clubs rather than school sponsored teams.

Lambton’s varsity team will be limited to a few members, but Brown said students who are not part of the varsity team and still wish to compete in esports are encouraged to put a team together for tournaments such as CSL to show off their skills.

Brown said he expects potential students will be drawn to Lambton College because of the esports team. Similar to the way traditional sports teams attract athletes to schools across the county.

The College has partnered with the popular live-streaming service Twitch to broadcast its matches in the College and around the world. The College hopes to gain subscribers and eventually earn money off the streaming service to reinvest in its esports team, Brown said.

Lambton College esports fans will be able to watch the team’s matches live on Twitch from their personal computer, or from televisions in the gaming arena or campus pub.

Brown said he thinks people will support the esports team on Twitch in the same way people show up at the soccer pitch or basketball court to support those varsity teams.

Moving forward, Atkin and Brown said they look forward to launching the esports team and developing an example for what will likely be coming to more colleges and universities across Canada.

To learn more, or to express interest in the Lambton College esports team, visit http://www.lclions.ca/sports/esports/index.

Starting September 7, one can stream Lambton College esports on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/lambtonesports.