NEWS
Wednesday, december 15, 2021
HermIsTOnHeraLd.cOm • A7
Umatilla High School launches esports program
The team hopes to be
running by the spring
By ANNIE FOWLER
Hermiston Herald
Video games have come a
long way since Pong.
Those who played Pong
in the 1970s now have AARP
cards, while the younger gen-
eration is rolling its eyes at
the black and white “tennis”
game on the TV screen that
took minimal skill to play.
Video games have moved
into a new era, where graph-
ics are realistic, colors are
vivid and if you are good
enough, there is money to be
made.
A group of Umatilla High
School students are among
the elite players, and they
have gone the extra mile to
bring an esports team to the
small Eastern Oregon school.
“It’s a very cool opportu-
nity for the kids,” said Kyle
Sipe, who coaches the robot-
ics team at Umatilla, and
will oversee the esports pro-
gram. “The kids took it to the
school board to get approval.
They had to tell them why
they wanted the program and
how it could benefit the stu-
dents. The scholarships from
this are huge.”
The group of senior Ale-
jandro Escovedo, juniors
Quin McClenahen and
Kaidan Blair and freshman
Avery Gutierrez have spear-
headed the project. All four
also are members of the
robotics program.
“I researched a bunch,”
McClenahen said. “I mainly
used one link, which had
how many school have
esports leagues, how many
schools are in each division,
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Umatilla High School students Avery Gutierrez, left, Kaidan Blair, Alejandro Escovedo and
Quin McClenahen pose for a portrait Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, at Umatilla High School. The stu-
dents have been pivotal in helping get the high school’s esports program off the ground.
and how much scholarship
money there is in esports.”
His research showed
that nearby Riverside High
School has a team, as do
Eastern Oregon University,
Oregon Institute of Technol-
ogy, Portland State Univer-
sity and University of Ore-
gon. The scholarship money
available is considerable, but
nearly $5 million in scholar-
ship money has gone unused.
Blair said there are
429,000 jobs tied to the
gaming
industry.
His
research noted students who
participate in esports pro-
grams have a higher atten-
dance at school, and their
GPA improves.
“Mainly, we were asking
the school board if we could
play,” Blair said. “We had
already secured grant money.
Mr. Sipe took care of that.”
There is an expense with
having an esports team, with
the biggest chunk of money
being spent on computers.
The school district had
grant money from the Depart-
ment of Education, and it
was allocated to the esports
program. The students now
are waiting for the computers
to arrive — worldwide dis-
tribution issues have delayed
shipping.
Once the computers
arrive, the students will get
to put them together. They
hope to start competing in
the spring.
“It’s a huge financial bur-
den,” Sipe said, “Computers
are expensive. Money was
the biggest hurdle.”
While Sipe has an impres-
sive robotics team at Uma-
tilla, he is looking forward
to hopefully having a new
group of students to work
with in the esports program.
“I get to make better con-
nections with the kids, and
different connections with
a different population of
kids,” Sipe said. “It gives
them a reason to come to
school. Like the robotics
kids who like to put nuts and
bolts together, we now have
the kids who will control it.
They will learn how to make
a video game work.”
A non-contact sport
While encouraging stu-
dens to get off the couch and
do something active is admi-
rable, esports teach some of
the same principles of main-
stream athletics, including
teamwork, strategy, the thrill
of competition and learn-
ing to lose, but without the
bumps and bruises.
Esports also is accessible
to those with physical bar-
riers, making it an inclusive
program.
When the COVID-19
pandemic temporarily shut
down live sports in 2020,
people turned to esports to
fill the void.
Work and school were
done by Zoom, so why not
interact with others in the
gaming world the same way.
Some people play, while
others are fans and like to
watch the action. In 2020,
esports was a $1 billion
business.
Esports combine art, sci-
ence and business, which is
what draws Escovedo to the
program.
Escovedo, who teaches a
Minecraft class after school
at Umatilla, said he has been
playing video games since
he was 6 years old. He’d like
to pursue a degree in com-
puter science.
He carries a 3.8 GPA
and has applied to and been
accepted to Washington
State University, Eastern
Washington University and
OIT. The scholarship money
is a big draw, which he said
he needs to be able to fulfill
his college dreams.
Once the Umatilla pro-
gram is up and running,
it will be able to compete
against other teams from
throughout the world. While
some people like the solitude
of playing alone, esports
encourage teamwork.
“It’s really fun Escov-
edo said. “You are right next
to each other instead of on
headsets.”
Blair said he always has
had an interest in comput-
ers and has built his own.
That led him to gaming. You
can hear the passion for the
esports program in his voice.
“We haven’t officially
started asking people to
join, but people are asking
to come and play,” he said.
“We will have scheduled
practices.”
Once the program is up
and running, participants
will be held to the same
standards as the athletes,
who must maintain a certain
GPA and have good atten-
dance at school.
McClenahen and Escov-
edo played a session of Valo-
rant, which is one of a dozen
games that are approved
for esports leagues. While
their lefts hands controlled
the keyboard, their right
worked the mouse. It takes
a special skill and hand-eye
coordination.
Contrary to popular
belief, esports have been
around for decades, staring
in the 1960s with the game
Spacewar, which is consid-
ered the first digital com-
puter game.
The first esports tour-
nament was held in 1972,
and Spacewar was the game
used. There were 24 players
and the winner received an
annual subscription to Roll-
ing Stone magazine.
Sipe, and his wife Heidi,
the superintendent of the
Umatilla School District,
played video games during
the pandemic when every-
thing, including school, was
done by Zoom.
Heidi took an interest
in Dr. Mario (circa 1990),
where the objective is to
defeat different colored
germs with vitamins of the
same color.
“I think if I can beat Dr.
Mario, I can end this pan-
demic,” she said.
— Editor’s Note: Quin
McClenahen is the stepson
of the Hermiston Herald
editor/senior reporter Erick
Peterson.
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